Premier Jiang Yi-huah has instructed law enforcement agencies to join efforts in fighting election bribery and violence. Speaking on Friday, the premier urged them to conduct their investigation based on rule of law.
Jiang said that bribery and violence have remained two challenges in Taiwan’s elections over the years. Shootings during the 2004 presidential election and the 2010 mayoral election were two shocking events that raised questions about Taiwan’s democracy and the quality of Taiwan’s civil society. The premier said that law enforcement agencies have the responsibility of keeping the municipal elections at the end of the year clean.
"As long as there is any infringement of the law, we will conduct investigation strictly by the book, regardless of the suspect’s political party affiliation and social status," said Jiang.
"All the supervisors at the law enforcement agencies must pursue every case fairly. We don’t want voters to question whether investigators target certain people because of their political affiliation," he said.
Jiang said that the municipal elections scheduled for the end of the year are the largest in Taiwan’s history. He urged all parties involved to do their best in fighting election violence and bribery so that Taiwanese people will continue to have faith in democracy.