TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A new website that tracks the criminal records of councilors for counties and cities has revealed that 15% of 885 officials tracked have a criminal record, with Kuomintang (KMT) party members by far comprising the largest percentage and Kaohsiung City Council having the most lawbreakers.

With local elections fast approaching in November, the Taiwan Anti-Corruption and Whistleblower Protection Association on Wednesday (Aug. 24) held a press conference to launch a new website called "2022 National Congressional Candidates' Criminal History Pursuit." The website shows that out of 885 current city and county councilors, 136 have criminal records, representing 15% of those elected officials.

The association stated that the data used for the website is collected from public records, public statements, reports from think tanks, and court judgments. According to the website, among Taiwan's 22 counties and cities, only Penghu County has no members previously involved in corruption, election fraud, the underworld, firearms offenses, or drunk driving.

The Kaohsiung City Council has the most members with criminal records at 18 lawbreakers. In second place is New Taipei City with 12 councilors with a criminal background, followed by Changhua County in third place with 11 councilors.

As for political parties, the KMT has the most councilors who have broken the law with 65. Councilors without a party affiliation came in second with 35, while the Democratic Progressive Party had 26 councilors that had committed legal infractions.

Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), the association's chairman and former New Power Party (NPP) Chairman, said that the purpose of the website is to "let the sun shine onto local councils" and provide an important reference for voters across the country. Huang said that after this election's candidates are officially registered next week, the information in the system will continue to be updated.

The homepage of the website consists of a map on which users can click on a given county, city, and district and view the number of councilors who have a criminal background. They can then click on each candidate and find out what offenses they have been convicted of committing and when.