Elections yesterday to select a total of 314 city councilors in Taipei, Sinbei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung ended in a tie between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), with each winning 130 seats.
Non-partisan or independent candidates garnered 45 seats in the five city councils, while the pro-unification New Party won three seats — all in Taipei City — the People First Party (PFP), another pan-blue party, won four. The pan-green, pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) took two seats.
Overall, 2,642,846 ballots (35.34 percent) were cast for the DPP, while 2,889,210 (38.63 percent) were cast for the KMT.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The pan-green camp dominates the city council in Tainan, while the pan-blue camp controls the northern, central and southern city councils in Taipei, Sinbei City, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung.
Taipei City Council
For the Taipei City Council, the KMT remains the biggest party, while the pan-blue camp retains a majority, with 10 seats more than the pan-green camp.
GRAPHIC: TT
The KMT holds 31 of the 62 seats in Taipei City Council, while the DPP, which nominated 30 candidates, got 23 candidates elected. The New Party and PFP won three and two seats respectively, while the TSU took one seat. The final two seats in the Taipei City Council will be held by independents. The pan-green Constitution Promotion Union did not win any seats.
Green Party Taiwan convener Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲), who ran as a candidate for Taipai’s Songshan (松山) and Xinyi (信義) districts, failed to win a seat, obtaining only 4,984 votes (2.15 percent). Green Party Taiwan stands for environmental protection and sustainability and is neither pan-green nor pan-blue.
Sinbei City Council
Of the 66 seats in the Sinbei City Council, the KMT was the biggest party with 30 seas, while the DPP came in second at 28. The rest of the eight seats were taken by independents.
Notably, city councilor candidate Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源) won a seat on the city council with 20,854 votes (16.65 percent), the third-highest of all eight candidates in his district, but the lowest among all KMT candidates there. Sean Lien (連勝文), former vice president Lien Chan’s (連戰) son, was shot at Chen’s rally on Friday night.
Taichung City Council
The KMT won a slight victory by taking 27 of the 63 seats in the -Taichung City Council, while the DPP took 24. The pan-blue camp holds only one more seat than the pan-green camp, while independents hold 10 seats.
Tainan City Council
The DPP won a large victory by taking 27 of the 57 Tainan City Council seats, while the KMT took 13. The other 17 seats were taken by independents.
Kaohsiung City CounciL
Of the 66 Kaohsiung City Council seats, the KMT won 29 while the DPP took 28. The pan-blue camp holds two more seats than the pan-greens, while independents occupy eight seats.
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son, won 32,947 votes (16.84 percent). Winning the highest -number of votes in his district, Chen Chih-chung ran as an independent candidate in 10th electoral district of Cianjhen (前鎮) and Siaogang (小港), against four candidates nominated by the DPP, four from the KMT and six others.
Cheng Hsin-chu (鄭新助), who ran as an independent candidate in Kaohsiung as a supporter of former president Chen Shui-bian, won a seat on the council with 18,283 votes (9.66 percent).
Former KMT Kaohsiung City councilor Huang Shao-ting (黃紹庭), who ran as an independent candidate, won only 10,268 votes (6.87 percent), the lowest of eight candidates in his riding, which includes Cianjin (前金), Sinsing (新興) and Lingya (苓雅) districts. Huang’s election victory in 2006 was annulled because of his holding US citizenship during his term.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS