The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧) yesterday narrowly beat the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Lin Ming-chen (林明溱) by 1,925 votes to win a Nantou County legislative by-election.
Tsai won 45,218 votes, or 49.44 percent of the total, while Lin garnered 43,293, or 47.34 percent, election officials said.
During the afternoon, as local polling stations started reporting ballot counts, Lin was trailing by about 2,000 votes.
Photo courtesy of Tsai Pei-hui’s campaign office via CNA
“This is a demonstration of Taiwan’s democratic spirit,” Tsai said in Nantou City after Lin conceded at about 5:30pm.
She promised to start her work as legislator tomorrow, adding that in addition to the policies she proposed in the campaign, she would also seek to implement some policies proposed by Lin.
“One by one, I will work hard to implement these programs, including improving social welfare for the elderly, while pushing for funding for more large hospitals, attracting more industry and building science parks for our county,” she said.
Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who is chairman of the DPP, said Tsai’s victory has given the party a much needed boost, after three consecutive defeats since last year’s nine-in-one local elections.
“This is a crucial turning point for the DPP to start a winning streak against the KMT,” he said of the party’s first electoral victory since he became chairman.
“It will end the string of defeats so our party can consolidate support with the aim of winning the upcoming elections,” he said in a statement.
KMT county commissioners and legislators have dominated Nantou politics for most of the past 20 years. The last DPP member to win in the county was Lin Tsung-nan (林宗男), who was county commissioner from 2001 to 2005, preceded by DPP commissioner Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯), who served from 1997 to 2001.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also congratulated Tsai Pei-hui, who was a legislator-at-large from 2016 to 2020.
“Tsai Pei-hui will return to the legislature, and she will strive diligently to work for Nantou County, and bring the values of our party to provide better care and look after the people,” Tsai Ing-wen said in a statement.
“Winning this election is only the start of the hard work ahead... When people rally together, we can overcome difficulties and tough challenges, and strive forward to progress on the road ahead,” she said.
Lin called the election unfair, saying that Tsai Pei-hui had more resources than he did, adding that he had been “running out of weapons and ammunition” toward the end.
“So we lost by just more than 1,000 votes — a very small margin. We did not put in enough effort in this race, although we had the chance to win... Also I was tarnished by media reports, and was tainted by a smear campaign, that is why in the end I lost narrowly,” Lin said.
Also on the ballot were independent candidate Chen Tsung-chien (陳聰鑑), former mayor of Mingjian Township, and Lu Yu-chun (魯昱君), a retired school counselor and former military political affairs officer. They received 2,528 and 421 votes respectively.
The turnout was 46.35 percent of the 198,412 total eligible voters, considered high for the district, the Central Election Commission said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS