The Taiwan Forward Front revealed that 107 village chief candidates have criminal records, including 7 involved in sexual crimes and stalking.

With the nine-in-one general election approaching at the end of the year, a total of 14,100 people across Taiwan have completed registration to run for village chief. However, the Taiwan Forward Front revealed today (24th) that 107 village chief candidates have criminal records. The charges include election crimes, false declaration of public funds, violent intimidation, drunk driving, hit-and-run, etc. Seven people were even involved in sexual crimes and stalking. Some of the victims were underage children, and these will not be written in the election bulletin.

The "Taiwan Forward Front", composed of the Power of the Times, Taiwan Foundation, the Green Party, the Obasan Alliance for Small People's Participation in Politics, and independent candidates, held a press conference this morning on "Disclosure of Criminal Case Records of 2026 Village Chief Candidates."

Times Power Party Chairman Wang Wanyu pointed out that Wang Jiansheng, the candidate for village chief in Neihu, was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months for attempted sexual intercourse while taking advantage of an opportunity. If residents had not accidentally discovered it, "there would not be a single word in the election bulletin." Therefore, they further checked 20 counties and cities in Taiwan and found that a total of 107 candidates for village chief had criminal records, with 22 in Kaohsiung City, followed by 17 in New Taipei City and 11 in Tainan City.

Wu Xindai, Taiwan's candidate for Taipei City Council, explained that if we further check the age, region, employment experience and clues in the judgment, the data as of September 23, according to the crime classification, the most election crimes were 36; illegal fraud, false declaration of public funds, and violent intimidation were tied for second place with 21 each; there were 8 cases of drunk driving, drug driving and traffic accidents; and 7 cases of sexual crimes and stalking.

Li Huixuan, Taipei City Council candidate of the Obasan Alliance for Small People's Participation in Politics, pointed out that among the seven people involved in sexual crimes and stalking, including attempted sexual assault, forced molestation, providing a place for people to engage in sex trade for profit, sexual harassment and stalking, at least four of them are current village heads. The victims of two of the sexual harassment cases were minors, and one candidate was found guilty by the court of 13 counts of sexual harassment of children and teenagers. She emphasized that the neighborhood chief relies on the trust of residents and should be handed over to someone who knows how to respect boundaries.

In response to the 36 electoral crimes, Chen Wanyu, a New Taipei City council candidate of the Obasan Alliance for People's Participation in Politics, pointed out that 8 of them were vote-buying, and the other 25 were false relocation and voting, commonly known as "ghost population." Some people even moved nearly 30 people's household registrations into the same residence at one time, which is more than the entire category of violent intimidation. She questioned, if even the most grassroots elections can be manipulated, does the voter's vote still count?

Gan Chongwei, candidate for New Taipei City Council of the Taiwan Green Party, pointed out that there were 19 candidates and 21 judgments involving public funds. In 11 cases, the court found that property had been fraudulently obtained or for profit, and in 10 cases, the declaration documents were found to be untrue. Techniques include falsely reporting health check receipts, using subsidy money to buy air conditioners to install in one's own home, and using false invoices to write off Watch and Help subsidies before purchasing. The most common one is that the neighborhood chief and the patrol team let ineligible people participate in social activities, and then forged sign-in forms to write them off. There were 9 cases in total, more than half of which were in New Taipei City. He said that the same tactics have appeared again and again, the representative system has loopholes, and the fund write-off and verification mechanisms should be reviewed.