Lai Ching-te, mayor of Taiwan's Tainan City, was impeached on Tuesday for failure to attend city council meetings.
The island's authority on civil servants' misconduct voted 7-2 and impeached him for setting a bad example of such "gross negligence" among county and city level officials.
Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party had accused Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-Chiao of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) of buying votes to be elected in December. He later announced that he would not attend city council meetings unless Lee's vote-buying was addressed.
Lai and other city officials were absent from a city council meeting held on Jan. 15 and continued to be absent from another meeting on Jan. 27.
According to the island's authorities, Lai has failed to attend any council meetings for half a year and his action has violated regulations and is a serious dereliction of duty.
