As expected, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday was elected to serve as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman.
Ma, the sole candidate, received 285,354 of 303,987 votes or 93.87 percent. Turnout was 56.95 percent.
A total of 17,619 ballots were invalid, while there was a discrepancy with 1,014 votes. KMT Organization and Development Committee deputy chief Huang Chong-hsian (黃重憲) said some members had mistakenly cast ballots for the chairman election in the boxes for the party delegate election, or took ballots but did not cast them.
The party also elected 1,171 delegates. Results for the party delegate election were not in yet as of the press time.
The vote-counting process was delayed for more than an hour and a half. The KMT planned to announce the results at about 6pm, but the result was not revealed until 7:40pm.
Huang said the vote-counting system in Taoyuan County was suspended for a time. Some cities and counties’ decision to count votes for the chairmanship election and delegate election at the same time also caused delays, he said.
Ma arrived at his campaign headquarters soon after the result was in. He promised to enhance cooperation between the party and the government, deal with party assets and continue efforts to communicate with the opposition parties.
“Enhancing party reform demands immediate effort and I want the KMT to become a party of integrity, democracy and effectiveness,” he said.
Ma lauded outgoing KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) for his achievements in helping promote cross-strait relations and said the party would continue implementing the government’s cross-strait policies.
Ma later visited KMT headquarters to thank party workers.
When asked whether or not Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) would send a congratulatory statement, Ma said China had sent such a message when he was elected as KMT chairman in 2005, and so it was expected that this would be repeated.
Ma will formally take over the party leadership at the KMT’s national congress on Sept. 12. He served as KMT chairman from 2005 to 2007 but resigned after being indicted for alleged misuse of his special allowance fund as Taipei mayor.
“The reason I ran for election was to shoulder responsibility, rather than expanding my powers or testing my popularity,” Ma reiterated.
“The most important thing is to seek closer cooperation between the party and the government and to push through government policies more effectively,” he said.
As chairman, Ma will face his first major challenge in finalizing nominees for the Yunlin legislative by-election and the Hualien County and Taoyuan County commissioner elections.
The party’s Central Standing Committee is likely to be restructured after Ma takes over. It is expected he will cut the number of committee members from 32 to 16, and include more Cabinet members, academics and local government heads on the committee.
Also See: ANALYSIS: Ma facing challenges with KMT
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
RSS