Prosecutors in Taiwan Indict Ko Wen-je, Former Presidential Candidate

He had run unsuccessfully for president of Taiwan as a maverick candidate, promising to clean up the island’s political system. Now, he has been officially accused of corruption.

In an indictment released on Thursday, prosecutors in Taiwan accused the former presidential candidate, Ko Wen-je, of having taken bribes related to a property development while he was mayor of Taipei.

The prosecution against Mr. Ko appears likely to fan political divisions in Taiwan. The island’s president, Lai Ching-te, and his Democratic Progressive Party have been at odds with the main opposition Nationalist Party, as well as Mr. Ko’s newer and smaller Taiwan People’s Party, or T.P.P. The Nationalists and Mr. Ko’s party together hold a narrow majority in Taiwan’s legislature, hemming in Mr. Lai’s power.

The indictment of Mr. Ko does not mean that his party is bound to collapse. “What’s important to keep in mind is that the sort of political force that he awakened in Taiwan is not going to go away,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University in Taipei. “If anything, T.P.P. supporters who still identify with the party are not going to be swayed, because they haven’t been swayed yet by Ko’s arrest.”

Mr. Ko, 65, was a high-profile mayor of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, from 2014 to 2022. He founded the Taiwan People’s Party in 2019, arguing that neither the Democratic Progressive Party nor the Nationalists were heeding voters’ concerns about government incompetence and abuses, rising housing costs and other issues.

Mr. Ko came in third in the presidential election in January. But his relatively strong showing — winning over a quarter of the vote — and his party’s victories in legislative elections indicated that he would remain influential in Taiwanese politics and perhaps contest the next presidential election in 2028.