Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) office on Friday said its own poll had a different result from one published by a Chinese-language weekly magazine, which showed Hung trailing former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) in the party’s chairperson race.
A poll, commissioned by the China Times Weekly magazine and published on Friday showed Wu leading with 20.1 percent support, followed by Hau on 17.4 percent and Hung on 16.8 percent.
In another poll, also by the magazine, that excluded pan-green supporters, Hau bested Wu with 24.7 percent to Wu’s 23.1 percent, and Hung came in third with 21.3 percent.
Photo: CNA
Hung’s office said that the magazine’s poll numbers “had apparent gaps with the general consensus and our office’s poll results.”
“The magazine’s survey only had about 400 respondents; we would refrain from commenting on its validity,” it said, adding that a poll commissioned by the office and conducted between Feb. 2 and 6 with more than 1,200 samples from pan-blue supporters showed Hung had 65 percent support as party chairwoman.
“Hung’s cross-strait peace policy platform was shown to have 78 percent support and she was also leading in the chairperson race, though without obtaining a majority,” office spokesman Yu Hao (游顥) said, without providing precise numbers.
Hau and Wu yesterday said they would not place too much importance on the poll numbers, with Hau adding that what matters is being the first in the final vote.
Asked whether Hung’s office conducted the poll using the party headquarters’ resources, Hau said Hung should make public the poll if the party paid for it, adding that Hung has vowed to distribute party resources fairly and complete a list of party members, according to party regulations.
“What matters most now is for the party headquarters to quickly help set up an election committee with representatives recommended by all the chairperson candidates,” he said.
Additional Reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang and Wang Jung-hsiang
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS