加国政选揭秘： 选举提名中的欺诈手段

 

 

 

 

随着2018年安省省选日益临近，许多选区都在忙于完成候选人提名，以便能让各党候选人有充裕时间募集资金和筹划如何赢得下届省选。

With the fast approaching 2018 Ontario provincial election, many electoral ridings are hurrying to complete their candidate nominations to allow for adequate time to raise funds and planning to win the next election.

 

 

从报名参选，到由选区党员选出代表该选区政党的参选候选人，三大政党党内竞选规则和流程几乎一样。各党的党章规定，现任议员可以直接跳过党内提名流程，直接代表该党在自己的选区内与其他党竞争席位。虽然党魁可以指定另一个“更合适的”的人出战，但是，党魁很少这么干。因为要把现任议员罢免参选，党魁必须给出非常充足的理由，而且要得到党内的支持，否则会引起不可预见的政治后果。

All three major parties have very similar rules and processes for nominees to come forward and be elected by riding members to represent the riding. For  seating incumbents, they are exempt from the nomination process by the party constitution. However, the party leader has a seldom used option to select another “more suitable” candidate. This option is not easily exercised because an impeccable  justification has to be provided to party members to rally support behind such an anointed candidate to avoid any political consequences.

 

 

我将揭示的选举提名欺诈手段不仅在联邦选举和省选的候选人竞争提名中可见，同时也涉及所有三大政党。我还必须说明的是，虽然有人亲眼见证了这些违规行为，但他们都不愿意站出来作证。因此，我只能请读者们自己判断这些指控是否成立。对于那些已经参与选举过程的读者，则应该仔细思考一下是否有必要采取措施来纠正这些不良现象，以使我们的选举过程回到其本意和初衷。

What I am about to expose not only apply to both Federal and Provincial Candidate nomination elections but also across all three major parties. I must also claim that while there are witnesses to these capers, they are not willing to come forward and substantiate their claims. I would only ask the regular readers to use their judgment to see if these allegations make sense. For those readers who are involved in politics, think about the need for reform and correct these situations to bring the system back to perform to its original intent and purposes.

 

 

提名程序是从党内选区候选人填写和提交有数十名信誉良好的选区现有党员背书的申请表开始的。申请表中列满了探查候选人的过去和现在的各种问题，包括申请人是否宣布过破产，以及是否有刑事犯罪记录等直接了当的问题。

The nomination process starts with the nominees filling out an application form with information and signatures of tens of existing local riding members in good-standing. The form is thick and laden with questions probing the nominee's past and present. Some of these questions ask point-blank if the applicant has ever declared bankruptcy and whether they have committed criminal offences.

 

 

为了赢得提名，候选人会为自己的政党“发展”更多新党员。这样做有两个目的，一是展现申请人是否有能力壮大党员队伍，以及为自己的政党金库带来更多党费收入；另一个目的是通过透露相关数字，让其他候选人偃旗息鼓。但我们必须记住，发展大量新党员并不一定意味着这些新党员会在决定候选人那天到场投票。

To prepare for the nomination, nominees will “sign-up” members to the party. This action serves two purposes – to show the applicant's ability and organizational skills to the party and to bring membership fees into the party's coffers where applicable. One other unintended purpose is for the nominee to announce these numbers to discourage other nominees to continue their campaigning efforts. We must remember that huge number of sign-up memberships does not necessarily mean a huge number of members coming out to cast a ballot on the nomination day.

 

 

在没有大选的年份里，选区内的党员数量通常都很少。许多党员也不会缴纳每年的党费。但在提名过程中，各个选区的党员数量都会激增，数量超过几千人。按照党章规定，除了一些省级政党，党员不得使用现金，而必须用信用卡或支票缴纳党费。

For the years between elections, election riding memberships are few.  Many members do not pay their yearly membership dues. During the nomination process, the memberships will balloon to thousands in each riding. Party rules stipulate that memberships must be paid by the members using credit cards or cheques and the use of cash is generally prohibited except in some provincial party memberships. 

 

 

但是现实并非如此。此前已有媒体报道，有些选区的竞选工作人员在本人不知情的情况下，利用手中已经掌握的信用卡资料而让持卡人入党。也就是说，一些新党员稀里糊涂地就“入”了党。出现这样的漏洞原因在于个人信息和名单完全是由竞选工作人员控制。另一种做手脚的方式是新党员用支票缴纳党费后，竞选工作人员用现金的方式将党费退还。

In  reality, it was reported that pre-paid credit cards were used in some political contests by campaign workers to sign up members. Of course, this can mean that members are actually “recruited” without knowing about it themselves. This is possible when personal information are “lifted” from organizations or lists controlled by campaign workers. Members may also be given cash reimbursements by campaign workers after they turn in an application form with personal cheques attached to them for delivery to the party. 

 

 

为了确保更多族裔候选人参选，以便最终能在议会占据多数席位，某些族裔群体的成员会变成被所有主要政党招募的对象。虽然有些党员申请表中要求申请人承诺他/她“只加入一个政党”，但这种自律机制因为无法审核而形同虚设！因为政党A不可能同政党B和C来核实是否有人同时加入各个政党。

To achieve putting more heritage candidates into the election and ultimately gaining most seats at the parliaments, members of certain heritage groups will become members for all major political parties. While there is a declaration in some of the membership application forms to voluntarily commit to a “one party only” affiliation, this self-disciplined system fails miserably as it can never be verified! Can Party A gets the membership lists of Parties B & C to make a verification?  Of course not. 

 

 

为了让自己的人获胜，每当有族裔候选人参战时，族裔选民便会前往不同的选区和政党提名会议进行拉票。对他们来说，只要能上台，改变驾照地址和入党信息是天经地义的事。  

To maximize their opportunities, this mobilized group of heritage voters will go to different ridings and party nomination meetings whenever a heritage nominee comes forward. Changing the address on their driver licenses and the party's membership information is a small inconvenience to maximize one's political power for multiple voting opportunities. 

 

 

各政党对这些系统漏洞心知肚明，但是为了自身的利益，他们不会下决心去堵这些漏洞。人们怎么能指望这些政党在捞党费的同时来杜绝这些行为呢？

Political parties know about these loopholes but they do not have the determination to close them since they have a conflict of interest. How can one expect the parties to shut these practices down without hurting their own finances?

 

 

下一次，我们将介绍地方选区协会以及政党都采用哪些手段来铲除那些更适合参选的候选人，而让他们所青睐的候选人赢得提名。

Next time, we will continue to talk about methods used by the local riding associations and the parties themselves to ensure the election of their desired nominee and eliminate other more deserving nominees.