Taiwan's Hualien County is facing a fresh vote-buying scandal after a former Financial Times correspondent said local elections there are essentially bought, a bad look for Taiwan's democratic image ahead of upcoming local elections.

• Kathrin Hille, a longtime Hualien resident and former FT reporter in Taipei, said flatly that "all the votes there are bought," describing neighbors who put cash on the table and quote a going rate per vote.
• Hualien prosecutors have opened a formal investigation based on her remarks.
• The county has a long record of this: it collects a large share of Taiwan's national whistleblower reward money, and the 2022 election brought dozens of raids, scores of people summoned, and several detentions.
• In 2009, all three candidates for one township chief race were detained before voting day, so none could vote for themselves — the winner later had his election voided.
• Investigators say the practice is hard to stamp out because local fixers work from "safe lists" of voters known to accept money, so neither side reports the other.

Outlook: Expect more raids and arrests in Hualien as prosecutors move on the case, but convictions will stay hard to secure while buyers and sellers both stay quiet.