The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) landslide victory in Saturday’s nine-in-one elections appears to owe much to Kaohsiung mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), whose meteoric rise gave the party momentum and connected frustrated voters eager to punish the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Prior to the elections, the KMT said that winning 1.5 times the number of cities and counties the party had — six — and flipping Taichung would constitute victory, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said.
“The results are definitely beyond our expectations. Not only did we grab Taichung, we also took Kaohsiung, constituting a historic victory,” Hung said, referring to success in mayoral and commissioner elections in 15 out of 22 cities and counties, including three of the six special municipalities.
Photo: CNA
Hung said the effect of the so-called “Han tide” spread to other cities and counties, allowing the party’s candidates to secure victory in elections initially expected to be tight, such as Yunlin County and Taichung.
It also helped narrow the gap between the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in traditionally pan-green constituencies like Tainan and Pingtung County, he said.
In the 2014, then-Tainan mayor William Lai (賴清德) crushed his KMT rival, then-National University of Tainan president Huang Hsiu-shuang (黃秀霜), by a margin of 447,021 votes. That gap shrank to just 54,644 on Saturday.
Eric Yu (俞振華), an associate research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center, also said that Han was a major factor in the KMT’s victory.
He was the glue for different groups of voters who were dissatisfied with the performance of Tsai’s administration, Yu said.
“Rather than thinking that Saturday’s results were because the KMT did a good job in opposition, it is more accurate to say they were due to voters’ overwhelmingly negative perception of the DPP,” Yu said.
Another key factor in the KMT’s wins was the DPP’s adoption of a “value-centered” campaign strategy, despite Tsai winning the 2016 presidential race by painting herself as a pragmatist and centrist, Yu said, citing the ruling party’s tactic of painting a vote for the KMT as a vote against democracy and reform.
The DPP administration’s effort to push for transitional justice was also a factor, as fewer than 5 percent of Taiwanese would list it as a priority in opinion polls, he said, adding that the public clearly places the economy above values.
Han’s call for love and tolerance, and his decision to act on those values by not suing talk show host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) over allegedly false accusations against him spoke volumes, National Sun Yat-sen University professor of political science Liao Da-chi (廖達琪) said.
However, the KMT’s overwhelming victory should not be interpreted as voters being fond of the party, as it only reflected growing impatience with unsatisfactory leadership, Liao said.
While its momentum is likely to last until the 2020 presidential election, it is too early for the DPP to give up, Liao said.
“Voters want to see local elections revolve around matters of the economy, not independence or unification, while for presidential races, the focus is more on national sovereignty,” she said.
When asked about the 2020 race, Hung said that the KMT would try to produce a result like Saturday’s, but would keep a cautious attitude.
The KMT could begin its presidential nomination process next year, Hung said, adding, however, that its next goal was to win by-elections to be held within three months to fill vacancies left by five lawmakers who have resigned.
‘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