Justice Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang says electronic payment methods might become new avenues for vote buying in Taiwan’s upcoming local elections. That comment came during an interview with Taiwan’s Liberty Times Net.
In November this year, Taiwanese citizens will elect their magistrates, mayors, councilors, as well as village and borough chiefs in six municipalities and 16 counties.
Tsai said during the interview that the risk of interference with the electoral process in local elections is relatively high. He says the justice ministry has set up supervisory groups to coordinate the ministry’s fight against interference in Taiwan’s elections. The groups are looking out for both traditional and new avenues of election interference.
Tsai said local authorities will also set up technology investigation command centers. Those centers will look into cases of possible election fraud using electronic payment methods and virtual currencies. Many of these are harder to monitor than traditional money transfers.
In the past, foreign agents have given illegal financial aid to parties and candidates to influence elections. They have also enlisted the help of Taiwanese enterprises, temple associations, or Chinese spouses to offer eligible voters vacation packages in exchange for votes.
Experts frequently accuse China of being the biggest source of political interference in Taiwan. They say besides its direct interference, Beijing also spreads fake news and enlists the help of authoritarian sympathizers and apologists to sway public opinion.
In 2020 Taiwan’s justice ministry set up the Cyber Security Investigation Office, which employs information and cognitive warfare experts. Minister Tsai says the office will carefully look into cases of possible election fraud.