A three-day ballot recount in Taoyuan, which concluded yesterday, upheld a narrow victory for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) in the city’s fourth electoral district, leaving Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) in second.
According to media reports, Cheng’s lead was tallied at 162 votes, slightly less than the 169 declared on Jan. 16, though the Central Electoral Commission had yet to announce the results formally as of press time last night.
On Jan. 16, Cheng was declared victorious, with a 169-vote margin over the incumbant, after a dramatic evening of vote counting that seesawed into the night, during which Yang’s campaign headquarters prematurely declared victory because its poll watcher erroneously reported a 30-vote lead by Yang.
Photo: CNA
The next day, Yang filed for a recount with the Taoyuan District Court and the court granted her request.
The court initiated the recount on Monday, dispatching 20 judges in teams to the district’s 169 polling stations, and the candidates each sent 20 lawyers to supervise the proceedings and to contest calls the judges made.
After the recount results were released, Cheng went to the court to thank his supporters.
“[The result showed] my victory is a legitimate one, and [my rival], who lost the election, should have nothing to complain about anymore,” he said. “The first thing I will do when I get into the Legislative Yuan is to push for bigger budgets for Taoyuan.”
Yang conceded her defeat and offered her best wishes to Cheng, while apologizing to supporters, saying that she had not worked hard enough to win re-election.
It was reported that on Monday, Cheng’s lead over Yang was temporarily reduced by about 10 votes, a marginal quantity that was mostly due to revised rulings on ballot validity made by the judges, and the discovery of tallying errors, but fell short of the amount needed to alter the outcome.
Subsequent tallies from Tuesday and Wednesday also failed to reveal significant errors or discrepancies.
The Taoyuan District Court also granted a request for a vote recount in Taoyuan’s third electoral district, filed by DPP legislative candidate Hsu Ching-wen (徐景文) to contest the victory of KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖), who won re-election by a margin of 390 votes.
Recounting there is scheduled to begin today.
‘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
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
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
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