Church leaders in Taiwan call for clean elections free from vote-buying

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3123 Edition

January 2-8, 2012

Headline News

Church leaders in Taiwan call for clean elections free from vote-buying

Reported by Lin Yi-ying

Written by Lydia Ma

In view of the upcoming presidential and legislative election on January 14, 
2012, PCT General Assembly called a press conference on January 8, to 
underscore the importance of ensuring a peaceful transfer of power. National 
Council of Churches Taiwan also passed a resolution recently urging all 
political parties to play fair and abstain from vote buying and illegal betting 
for the sake of achieving a fair and clean election.

PCT General Secretary Andrew Chang said that Beijing had conducted missile 
tests in past elections to threaten Taiwanese voters, but has turned to 
powerful Taiwanese corporations and the media this time to influence the 
outcome of Taiwanese elections. Nevertheless, he hoped that free elections in 
Taiwan would become a model for China in the future and thus stressed on the 
importance of a peaceful transfer of power regardless of the outcome on 
election day. Having said that, he also hoped that all political parties would 
also respect the outcome of this election.

Similarly, the National Council of Churches Taiwan unanimously passed a 
resolution on December 13th, 2011 urging all candidates and parties to steer 
clear from vote buying and illegal betting. Serving as the current NCCT 
Chairman, Chang emphasized that vote-buying would cause serious setbacks and 
inflict severe damages to Taiwanese democracy. He added that this resolution 
represented the cry of all churches in Taiwan, regardless of denomination, and 
also echoed an international norm.

Methodist Church in ROC Governor Lin Chang-tseng said his church wholly 
supported NCCT’s resolution because only a clean, fair, and transparent 
election could improve the electoral quality and culture in Taiwan. He urged 
all churches in Taiwan to work together in normalizing elections by putting an 
end to vote-buying and illegal betting.

Taiwan Lutheran Church Bishop Rev. Chen Chih-hung underscored that justice is 
the key to a nation’s greatness. He added that though every presidential and 
legislative candidate has qualities and shortcomings, the most important aspect 
voters should consider is a candidates moral character instead of outward 
appearances, because moral character will have a lasting impact. To illustrate 
his point, he advised voters against voting for candidates who had used 
underhanded tactics during their campaigns. 

Archbishop of Taipei John Hung said the NCCT’s resolution demonstrated well the 
Christian Church’s prophetic role in society and the Catholic Church wholly 
supported this resolution. He added that churches ought to be more concerned 
about national politics and policies so as to advance God’s will on earth.

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