Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday became the new chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), easily beating his four opponents in a race that could have a major impact on the future direction of the party.
Su obtained 50.47 percent of the vote by 163,808 registered members, with former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) coming a distant second, with 21.02 percent.
The 64-year-old will serve as the DPP chairperson for the second time, after a brief stint between February and December 2005.
Photo: CNA
Su Tseng-chang, who was regarded as the front-runner from the outset, now has to live up to his pledge in election-eve advertisements in local dailies calling for party unity as the DPP faces major mayoral and commissioner elections in 2014 and a presidential election in 2016.
The turnout rate of 68.62 percent — an all-time high for the party — was better than the expected 50 percent, the DPP said.
A total of 240 polling stations for four elections were set up around the nation between 8am and 4pm.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
In addition to a new chairperson, party members selected regional office directors and regional and national representatives.
Despite the election being described as a “four-on-one battle against Su [Tseng-chang]” televised vote counting results showed that he pulled away early.
Former chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who resigned in March following her loss in the Jan. 14 presidential election, cast her vote in Yonghe District (永和), New Taipei City (新北市), in the morning and said that organizational work at the grassroots level would be crucial for the new party boss.
Former vice premier Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) was third with 16,315 votes, or 14.73 percent, while former DPP legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) and former DPP chairperson Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) ranked fourth and fifth, receiving 11.28 percent and 2.49 percent respectively.
Hsu, who is on a hunger strike over three appeals to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), was taken to a polling station by an ambulance yesterday morning.
Hsu told reporters that the DPP should revive the spirit of protest from its early era regardless of who is elected chairperson, or there would be no one to monitor the president.
Acting DPP Chairperson Chen Chu (陳菊) said she hoped that the new chairperson would be able to “handle the cross-strait exchange issue appropriately” and help the party regain its confidence.
The handover ceremony will be held on Wednesday.
At a press conference last night, Su Tseng-chang said the high turnout in the vote made this a win for the whole party.
Ma, acting in his capacity as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, sent Su Tseng-chang flowers to congratulate him on his victory yesterday.
Asked if he would meet Ma to increase cross-party dialogue, Su Tseng-chang said such efforts should be made if it meant improving the lot of the people, but that if such a meeting were just for show, he would decline.
Candidates who were close to Tsai secured important and symbolic victories in regional director elections, with Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) scoring a surprise victory over Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), a Su Tseng-chang confidant, in New Taipei City, and Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) winning a three-way battle in Taipei.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS