Taiwanese prosecutors are running more than 2,300 open vote-buying investigations ahead of the nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 29, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said in statistics released through Saturday. The figure covers reports received through Oct. 19 and represents about 35.9 percent of the 6,415 election-related complaints filed nationwide, a concentration that shows bribery allegations still dominate the pre-election caseload even as parties trade accusations about infiltration and fairness.
Scale of the caseload
According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office breakdown cited by CNA and the Taipei Times, the 2,302 suspected vote-buying cases involve 2,593 named individuals. Prosecutors have indicted 15 cases covering 95 people so far in this cycle, a small fraction of the intake that reflects the time needed to convert tips into searchable evidence. Separately, authorities logged 53 cases under the Anti-Infiltration Act involving 54 people, a parallel track that opposition and government spokespeople have argued about in campaign debates but that remains numerically smaller than straight vote-buying dockets.
The Ministry of Justice said prosecutors are following the election inspection guidelines and would enforce the law without regard to party, candidate, or officeholder status. The pledge is standard before major votes, but the volume of open bribery files gives it concrete stakes: any perception of selective detention in the final month could feed protests or recount demands in tight mayoralties.
Methods beyond cash envelopes
Recent indictments and detention orders highlighted in the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office release show investigators are not only chasing hand-to-hand cash. In Hualien’s Sioulin Township, Mayor Wang Mei-kuei and her husband Hu Chih-min were detained after prosecutors alleged free banquet meals, NT$1,000 to NT$2,000 cash gifts during exchange visits, and spending routed through a charity. In Taichung, a city council candidate surnamed Cheng was released on NT$100,000 bail while an intermediary remained in custody after a Sept. 21 search seized more than NT$15.26 million in cash and 69 bird’s-nest gift boxes allegedly earmarked for voters.
Changhua County Council Speaker Hsieh Dien-lin faces allegations that council funds financed banquets used to secure votes, with prosecutors also examining possible public-fund embezzlement; Hsieh and his father were ordered held without visitation. In Kaohsiung, prosecutors in Ciaotou District are investigating council candidate Chang Chi-cheng over pastry gifts at a Mother’s Day event and alleged use of fishing-association paperwork to qualify voters for subsidies. Chang’s father, a former city marine bureau director, and his brother were detained, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said.
Rewards and the final sprint
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office reminded the public that whistle-blower rewards for vote-buying tips remain taxable after interagency talks failed to win a tax exemption. From the 2022 local elections through Sept. 21, it paid NT$161.44 million in rewards, a number meant to encourage reporting in the closing weeks when traditional brokers make last-minute approaches.
With campaigning accelerating across Taiwan, the open-case tally is both a deterrent signal and a workload warning. Each detained mayor or council speaker removes a figure from the trail but also risks being spun as political lawfare. Prosecutors’ answer, repeated in weekend briefings, is that courts will sort facts while investigators keep tracing money from banquet halls to campaign committees—one ledger at a time until polls close.