The 2020 presidential and legislative elections are about one month away. Statistics compiled by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office show that 378 election-related cases have been investigated as of the end of November, including five cases related to funding from China, Hong Kong, and Macau with the aim of influencing the elections. Meanwhile, candidates are stepping up their promotional campaigns as the election draws closer, and there are concerns about vote buying.
The truck is piled high with multi-purpose plastic boxes, which Kuomintang legislative candidate Tsai Yu-hui was preparing to hand out as a promotional item during an information session on Dec. 6. This plan was thwarted by Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate Lai Hui-yuan. Lai also accused Tsai of buying votes. The police then got involved, seizing the evidence and sending it to prosecutors. In response, Tsai said there was no vote buying. As such, he plans to sue.
There are so many of these promotional items. Added together, they definitely surpass NT$30 by far. If this is not vote buying, then what is?
The cost was NT$15, only NT$15. It's definitely not as they claimed, that it was a promotional item that exceeded NT$30. I believe Lai Hui-yuan is smearing me.
About one month's time remains before the 2020 elections, and candidates are stepping up their canvassing efforts. Many of them hand out promotional items to boost their candidacies. Meanwhile, numerous posts have recently appeared online saying that free chicken cutlets will be handed out if a certain candidate wins, resulting in concerns about vote buying. Many candidates are also handing out items whose value exceeds NT$30, and people wonder if the Ministry of Justice is being lenient on this matter.
The value is only a standard for reference. What's important is whether there is any bribery between candidates and voters.
The ministry says what constitutes vote buying has to be determined on a case by case basis to see if there is any quid pro quo. It added it won't spend any time determining if the value of one certain item is under or over NT$30. A lawyer who previously worked as a prosecutor says investigations will focus on whether these promotional gifts affect the people's desire to vote to determine if there is any vote buying.
It doesn't mean that there is automatically vote buying if the value is over NT$30. What's important is who the recipients are. If you hand out the NT$30 items to people who don't have the right to vote or those outside your constituency, then clearly this is no quid pro quo.
In related news, statistics compiled by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office show that 378 election-related cases with 586 defendants have been investigated by district prosecutors' offices as of the end of November, including six cases of outside funding with the aim of influencing the elections. In five of the cases, the source was China, Hong Kong, or Macau. They remain under investigation.