The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday lost its traditional stronghold of Hsinchu City despite a split in the opposition vote, while it retained power in Hsinchu County and Miaoli County.
The region’s dramatic contests featured many familiar faces, with a former mayor and a former commissioner joining the fray, although both failed in their attempts to reclaim their former posts.
In Hsinchu City, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominee Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) prevailed by a whisker in a three-legged mayoral race despite a split in the pan-green vote, defeating KMT Mayor Hsu Ming-tsai (許明財) and former mayor Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅), who ran as an independent candidate after failing to make the DPP ticket in September.
Lin triumphed with 76,578 votes, albeit by a razor-thin margin, with Hsu just behind with 75,564 votes, and Tsai trailing in third with 40,480 votes, ending a race marked by the exchange of vicious attacks between the two DPP-affiliated candidates.
Lin and Tsai received 38.36 and 20.28 percent of the vote respectively, a major improvement for the DPP from the 41 percent it received in 2009, while Hsu’s share of the vote dropped from 55 to 37.85 percent.
Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) staved off a close challenge from his predecessor, Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金), an ex-KMT member who ran as an independent candidate.
Cheng lost despite the backing of the DPP, which chose not to field a candidate in the county, which has traditionally been dominated by the pan-blue camp.
Chiu collected 124,309 votes, beating the 118,698 votes that went to his nearest rival. The two received an almost even share of the vote, with Chiu claiming 46.94 percent and Cheng with 44.82 percent.
In the battle for Miaoli County commissioner, KMT Legislator Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) breezed through in another multi-legged race, winning 147,547 votes, leaving behind the DPP’s Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) and independent candidate Kang Shih-ju (康世儒), who received 89,838 votes and 60,356 votes respectively.
Hsu declared victory despite being embroiled in an ongoing legal case. The candidate is appealing a nine-year sentence for graft committed during his term as the mayor of Toufen Township (頭份).
Discussions of a possible alliance between Kang and the DPP failed to materialize, closing the door to a reenactment of Kang’s successful legislative campaign in 2009, in which the former KMT member received DPP support as an independent.
The KMT remained dominant, with Hsu racking up 46.59 percent of the vote in a victory comparable to his predecessor Liu Cheng-hung’s (劉政鴻) win in 2009 with 63 percent.
‘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