A poll on the performances of local government leaders released by Chinese-language magazine Global Views Monthly yesterday showed that Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), an independent, set a record by gaining a five-star rating for five consecutive years.
Twenty-one county and city heads were included in the poll, with 12 individuals surpassing their scores from last year, including Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taitung County Commissioner Justine Huang (黃健廷) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) of the KMT and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the KMT, the poll showed.
As Nantou County had an acting commissioner due to Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) being suspended over alleged involvement in a criminal case, its results were not included in the overall rankings.
Photo: CNA
According to the latest poll, local government heads who gained a five-star rating were Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) of the DPP, Chen, Yilan County Commisioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) of the DPP, Fu and Huang.
The rankings for the five special municipalities were the same as last year, with Lai having a five-star rating for three consecutive years, Chen for two years, Chu receiving 4.5 stars, Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the KMT having a four-star rating for three year in succession and Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the KMT receiving 3.5 stars, up from three stars last year.
Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) of the KMT, who received five stars over the past four years due to his efforts to promote education, tourism and corporate investment, was downgraded to 3.5 stars due to last year’s Dapu incident, the magazine said.
The Dapu incident refers to the Miaoli County Government seizing farmland to expand the Jhunan science park by blocking off roads and sending excavators into farms that were awaiting harvest in 2010 and the forced demolition of four family houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) last year.
The poll was conducted from March 13 to April 20, with interviews conducted with 14,349 people, Global Views Monthly said.
The margin of error on Taiwan proper was 3.7 percentage points, while Penghu and Kinmen counties had a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points and Lienchiang County had a margin of error of 6.9 percentage points.
Separately yesterday, National Taiwan University economics professor Lin Chieng-fu (林建甫), who attended a press conference hosted by the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum on the economic performance of the country’s five main cities, said that the poll’s rating of Hu as third from bottom in public approval rating was “inexplicable.”
Approval ratings are not necessarily an indicator of a politician’s performance during his or her term, Lin Chieng-fu said.
Lin Chieng-fu and other academics at the meeting also claimed that Hu’s low approval rating might be attributed to his exceptionally long term in office (possible because of the 2010 merger of Taichung City and Taichung County).
“The residents might be tired of seeing him, but that does not mean he is not doing well,” said forum chief executive Hsieh Ming-hui (謝明輝), who likened the poll result to a man being tired of a woman’s beauty if he sees her every day.
The Taiwan Competitiveness Forum, a think tank known for its pro-unification stance, yesterday said it endorsed Hu in the year-end mayoral election.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS