The pan-green camp yesterday made substantial gains in the legislature, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) obtaining more than 43 percent of votes in the legislative election, against a little more than 50 percent for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP).
The DPP secured more than 4.5 million votes, or 34.6 percent of the vote. The TSU won 1.18 million votes, or 8.95 percent of the vote, while the KMT obtained more than 5.86 million, or 44.55 percent, and the PFP 722,000, or 5.48 percent.
Both the TSU and the PFP made their way back into the legislature by garnering more than 5 percent of the popular vote, a requirement for parties to secure legislator-at-large seats.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
The PFP had a total of 12 candidates competing in the fourth, sixth and eighth districts of Taipei, the first district in New Taipei City (新北市), the seventh and eighth districts in Greater Taichung, the first district in Greater Tainan, in Kinmen County and the third district of Taoyuan County, as well as the mountain area and plains Aboriginal districts.
Some of them were popular legislators, including Lee Ao (李敖) and Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), but almost none were able to gain sufficient votes to come out on top.
The performance of the candidates fielded by the two major parties — the KMT and the DPP — varied.
Photo: CNA
Despite the high publicity that surrounded his campaign, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), the son of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), failed in his first bid as an independent candidate. His participation in the ninth district of Greater Kaohsiung is believed to have split the DPP vote and may have cost the DPP’s Kuo Wen-cheng’s (郭玟成) bid for re-election as he lost to KMT Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正).
Former New Party legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩), the daughter of former Vice Admiral Lei Hsueh-ming (雷學明), who left the KMT in 2007 for the New Party, also failed in her bid as an independent candidate in Zhonghe (中和), New Taipei City.
Former Lienchiang County commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生), formerly of the PFP, but who ran as an independent, defeated incumbent KMT legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠), who was seeking a sixth term in the legislature.
GRAPHIC: TT
Lin Pin-kuen (林炳坤) of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union and the incumbent legislator for Penghu was defeated by DPP Penghu County councilor Yang Yao (楊曜). Some attributed Lin’s surprising defeat to the fact that the airport in Penghu was closed because of heavy fog, which prevented some people from returning home to vote.
Despite his failure to unseat the KMT’s Alex Fei (費鴻泰), Green Party candidate Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲) garnered more votes this year, as the DPP and PFP did not field candidates in the seventh district of Taipei.
Former legislator Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), who was running as an independent candidate in the 12th district of New Taipei City and is rumored to have ties to organized crime, trailed the incumbent, KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) and DPP candidate Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠).
Lo’s son, KMT Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), was re-elected in the 11th district of New Taipei City.
Meanwhile, four former Government Information Office ministers also ran in the legislative elections this year, with mixed results.
Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓), who was running for the KMT in Greater Tainan, failed to unseat DPP Legislator Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財). Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) of the KMT beat his opponent, DPP legislative nominee Kuo Chun-ming (郭俊銘), in Greater Taichung.
DPP candidates Lin Chia-long (林佳龍) and Pasuya Yao (姚文智) both won in Greater Taichung and Taipei respectively. Lin defeated the incumbent, KMT legislator Daniel Hwang (黃義交), while Pasuya Yao defeated Justin Chou (周守訓) of the KMT.
Former government spokesperson Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), meanwhile, failed in his bid to unseat KMT Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰).
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS