The Chiayi mayoral election is to be held on Dec. 18, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Thursday, one day after the electoral process was stopped following the death of Huang Shao-tsung (黃紹聰), an independent candidate running in the election originally scheduled for Nov. 26.
The process was stopped based on Article 30 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), dubbed the “anti-assassination clause,” which requires the commission to terminate the process if a candidate dies up to one day ahead of the scheduled vote.
The decision was made jointly with Chiayi City Election Committee representatives, CEC Director-General Huang Chun-ming (黃俊銘) said.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Registration for candidates would be open from tomorrow until Saturday, and their numbers on the ballot would be drawn on Nov. 29, Huang Chun-ming said.
Huang Shao-tsung was found unconscious on the floor in a bathroom in his home early on Wednesday. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead, with the cause of death being heart attack.
CEC Deputy Chairman Chen Chao-chien (陳朝建) said the rescheduling would not affect the inauguration of the winner in the mayoral election on Dec. 25.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who is seeking re-election, and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenger, Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), have said that delaying the vote would put a strain on electoral resources.
Calling the decision “regrettable,” Huang Min-hui said that holding the mayoral election in Chiayi on a different date than nationwide local elections would require about 3,500 additional election workers, which would be hard to find.
Asked whether she is worried about becoming the DPP’s sole focus after Nov. 26, Huang Min-hui said that many of her supporters were concerned, but she is ready to deal with the situation.
Lee said that he would campaign “until the end” — for DPP Chiayi city councilor candidates in the Nov. 26 election, and ahead of the mayoral vote next month.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but