News
Cabinet approves bill barring convicted criminals from office
The cabinet is set to approve a draft bill that seeks to ban individuals convicted of involvement in organized crime, money laundering, drug-related offenses, and illegal possession of guns or knives from running for public office.
The move comes after Premier Su Tseng-chang announced the cabinet would introduce a draft amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act in order to meet public expectations of "integrity" among public officials.
The cabinet's proposed amendment will ban people from running for public office who have been convicted of violating:
The Organized Crime Prevention Act, the Money Laundering Control Act, the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act, and the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.
The proposed amendment also seeks to ban individuals convicted of violating the National Security Act, the Classified National Security Information Protection Act, and the National Intelligence Services Act from running for office.
Date from the Anti-corruption and Whistleblower Protection Association from August showed that of the 885 incumbent city and county councillors prior to the recent local elections, 136 had criminal records.
The KMT had the highest number of councillors with a criminal record with 65. That was followed by independent councillors with 35, and the DPP with 26.
