Only two of three candidates for the KMT Central Standing Committee election from "Ma troop" -- Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) top aides and supporters -- won seats on the party's key 31-member decision-making body.
The two successful candidates were KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (
Former deputy Taipei mayor Ou Chin-de (
KMT Legislator Hung Yu-chin (
Legislators made up more than half of those elected, including legislative caucus head Pan Wei-kang (
Incumbent committee member Lien Sheng-wen (
A total of 106 candidates ran in the election, and 1,395 party delegates cast their votes around the country.
Ma yesterday denied that the party had prepared a list of preferred committee members before the election, and restated his determination to wipe out bribery in the party's elections.
"There are many ways of campaigning in the elections for central committee members ... The party does not nominate or promote any candidates. We don't have preferred candidates, either," he said after casting his vote at KMT headquarters.
The KMT has revised its regulations, requiring that candidates not send out gifts or buy votes in elections.
During the campaign period, three candidates had to withdraw because of bribery allegations.
"I can't say that the election was 100 percent [clean], but I think we made big progress compared with past elections," Ma said.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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