TPP rejects claims of large-scale voting fraud

• By Kayleigh Madjar and Jake Chung / Staff writers

Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday rejected claims of large-scale voter fraud in Saturday’s presidential election, saying it was unlikely in Taiwan’s mature democracy.

Following Ko’s third-place finish in the presidential election, some of his supporters have suggested that voter fraud was to blame for the discrepancy between the party’s polling and the official results.

The party’s internal polling was inaccurate not because the numbers were faked, as some have suggested, but because it was heavily weighted toward younger Taiwanese, Ko told reporters, adding that the result would have been closer if voter turnout was higher than 71 percent.

Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

The campaign was unsuccessful at reaching older voters and encouraging people to vote, he said.

Although some minor voting anomalies in the election were possible, large-scale fraud is unlikely in a mature democracy like Taiwan’s, he said.

Ko on Tuesday evening wrote on Facebook that many of his supporters had contacted TPP headquarters or made accusations of voter fraud on social media, with some claiming to have seen hundreds of stolen votes, discrepancies in the count and other anomalies.

Although the Central Election Commission (CEC) said no fraud occurred in the elections, “so many mistakes of varying sizes have invariably raised questions among the public,” he wrote, calling for a better approach.

He also detailed the party’s internal polling methodology to dispel accusations that they had been faked to insinuate the race was closer than it was.

In related news, the CEC yesterday said it notified the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Justice Bureau of Investigation of the spread of online disinformation targeting it.

Despite the conclusion of the presidential election, people continue to spread false allegations on online against the commission and its staff, it said in a news release.

Members of political parties, or monitors recommended by the parties, were at voting booths, while the ballot count was televised, it said.

Even if some individuals failed to observe regulations, they were isolated cases, and, despite claims, ballot-rigging is impossible, the commission said.

False accusations stating that the CEC falsified vote counts or other similar messages and videos have been collected as evidence and forwarded to the judiciary for investigation, it said.

Additional reporting by CNA