2026 Elections: TPCP head detained on interference allegations

• Staff writer, with CNA and AP

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The leader of the Taiwan People’s Communist Party (TPCP) has been detained over allegations that he was running for borough warden under the direction and sponsorship of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement.

Taiwan is set to hold its nine-in-one local elections on Nov. 28.

The Tainan office and the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office said they received intelligence alleging that foreign forces were interfering in the election. The offices formed a joint task force and conducted searches on Friday, and questioned 13 defendants in Tainan, and one defendant and nine witnesses in Hsinchu, the statement said.

The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Wang Chieh, Taipei Times

After a preliminary investigation, prosecutors suspected that Taiwan People’s Communist Party Chairman Lin Te-wang (林德旺) and central committee member Chen Chen-chou (陳震宙) were involved in the scheme, the Tainan office said.

Lin allegedly acted on instructions from the CCP and received funding from it to run for Tainan Borough (太南) warden while Chen ran for Hsinchu’s Wuling Borough (武陵) warden, it said.

Lin allegedly on multiple occasions sent eligible voters from the borough to travel to China, where they received free services in exchange for their votes, the statement said.

After questioning Lin and Chen, prosecutors from the two offices strongly suspected them of criminal involvement and at risk of fleeing or colluding with others to destroy evidence, the Tainan office said.

Prosecutors on Friday asked the Tainan and Hsinchu district courts to detain the two men incommunicado.

The courts ordered Lin detained incommunicado, while Chen was released on NT$50,000 bail and placed under residential restrictions.

The other defendants and witnesses were released after questioning.