Two fruit vendors sit in front of an official publicity sign warning against vote-buying attempts ahead of the upcoming local office and council elections in Taipei yesterday. AFP

TAIPEI: Taiwan prosecutors yesterday indicted three candidates in local elections that will take place this coming Saturday, as investigators continue to probe a raft of vote-buying allegations.

The three candidates - Wei Hsueh-ching, Yen Chung-chieh and Tsai Sheng-hung, who are all running for county councilor office - were indicted by Taoyuan County prosecutors on charges of distributing presents or cash of up to NT$3,000 per person in return for promises of voter support.

In the rural township of Hsikou in Chiayi County, a man surnamed Huang was released by prosecutors on bail of NT$20,000 after he confessed to paying two people NT$2,000 each to vote for specific magistrate, township chief and councilor candidates.

However, Huang claimed that he had taken the initiative to offer the bribe and had not acted on behalf of any candidate.

In Pingtung County, prosecutors sought to detain Kaoshu township chief Wang Shu-wei in connection with vote-buying activities.

The prosecutors said that Wang, who is running for county councilor, was using public money to fund the activities of a specific private group in an effort to secure the support of its members.

However, the court rejected the prosecutors request to detain Wang, saying that the evidence against him was insufficient.

In Caotun, Nantou County, a female candidate for councilor, surnamed Hsu, was detained by prosecutors after a woman, whose name was withheld, was caught buying votes for the candidate.

Two of three candidates running for township chief in Guangfu, Hualien County had earlier been detained by prosecutors in connection with vote-buying.

However, local election officials said the Guangfu polls will go ahead as scheduled on December 5 with all of the candidates on the ballots.

The candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner, even if he is in custody, and will not be stripped of his seat unless he is found guilty in court, according to the law.

Vote-buying has become a major issue in the elections, with the opposition Democratic Progressive Party claiming that none of its candidates has so far been detained for election-fixing and the ruling Kuomintang rejecting the claim as "baloney."

According to a report yesterday in the China Times newspaper, candidates have been offering bribes ranging from NT$500 to NT$3,000 per person for voters to support them. On the island of Dongyin in the outlying county of Lienchiang, the bribes were reportedly as high as NT$30,000 per person.

Some candidates for magistrate have been collaborating with county councilor and township chief candidates to offer "package bribes" of NT$5,000 per person to voters, the China Times report claimed.

Lin Ching-tsung, the chief prosecutor in Lienchiang County, said that his office is looking into allegations that some candidates are offering NT$30,000 for a vote.

Lin said most residents of Lienchiang County have strong political allegiances, but foreign spouses and migrant workers from Taiwan proper are usually swing voters and are likely to be targeted in vote-buying scams.

The prosecutor said his office is probing nine allegations of vote-buying and 31 suspected cases of phantom voters who had taken up residence in Lienchiang four months before the election date for the sole purpose of supporting specific candidates.

In another outlying island county, Kinmen, prosecutors have received 91 complaints of election-fixing, 11 of which they said appeared to be substantiated.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/02/2009 page2)