Yuen Long polls are postponed after 41 people including a District Board member are held over intimidation and offering inducements
Hong Kong graft busters yesterday arrested more than 40 people on vote-rigging allegations - involving bribery, intimidation and illegal election expenses - in one of the city's biggest crackdowns on election-related corruption.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) operation has forced authorities to postpone the rural committee elections in Yuen Long until the matter is resolved. A source told the Post that those arrested included District Board member Leung Fuk-yuen and fellow village head Tsang Ma-ming.
It is understood the arrests are linked to certain candidates offering cash inducements; wining and dining some key voters; and, in other cases, threatening lives and property in a bid to secure votes.
Before the widespread allegations of corruption, villagers were due to cast their votes in the 2003 Rural Committee Election for Shap Pat Heung on Friday.
'We can confirm there have been 41 men, all village representatives, arrested so far in relation to the matter,' an ICAC spokeswoman said last night.