409 punished in China's election fraud

A total of 409 former officials in central China's Hunan Province have been punished for electoral fraud, local authorities said Friday.

Of the remaining 57 of the 466 under criminal investigation, 39 have been handed over to judicial authorities and 18 are still being investigated, according website of Hunan discipline inspectorate.

On Dec. 28, Hunan provincial legislature disqualified 56 members for buying votes and announced that more than 500 lawmakers in the city had been disqualified, dismissed or had resigned.

An investigation has shown that the 56 provincial legislators offered 110 million yuan (18 million U.S. dollars) in bribes to 518 municipal lawmakers and another 68 staff.