The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) won yesterday’s legislative by-election in Taichung’s second electoral district, defeating the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and three other candidates.
Lin received 88,752 votes, or 52.3 percent, versus Yen’s 80,912 votes, or 47.7 percent, unofficial figures from the Taichung Central Election Commission showed, after the votes at all 258 polling stations had been counted. Yen conceded defeat at about 5:50pm.
In her victory speech, Lin thanked voters for their support, and pledged to work hard and serve the constituency.
Photo: CNA
Candidates were running for the position left vacant after former Taiwan Statebuilding Party legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) lost a recall vote in October last year.
In a statement yesterday, the DPP urged the public to “get back on the right track” now that the by-election was over, and show solidarity in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
KMT spokesman Ling Tao (凌濤) said the voices of local residents had been “engulfed by the state apparatus.”
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
The KMT would not lose heart, but would continue the fight so that voters could “remove the peremptory ruling party” in the 2024 presidential election, Ling said.
A number of suspected breaches of election laws were reported yesterday, including several people who allegedly took pictures of passers-by or placed cameras near polling stations.
It was reported that people took pictures of passers-by outside the polling stations at two elementary schools, while a man was suspected of using a hand-held counter near another elementary school’s polling station, Lin’s office said.
A woman who placed a camera about 30m from a polling station was asked to leave the site.
However, she allegedly used a camera hidden in a coffee cup to take pictures and was again told to leave.
Taichung police said they had reported the woman to local prosecutors, who would determine whether she was breaking the law.
The Taichung election commission said that a person who is found to have taken pictures with a camera within 30m of a polling station, or interfered with or created a disturbance during an election, could face a sentence of up to two years in prison, short-term imprisonment or a fine of up to NT$150,000, based on the Criminal Code.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui and Lin Liang-sheng
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS