Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) last night conceded defeat in the presidential election after losing to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) William Lai (賴清德) by a margin of about 7 percent.
“I let everyone down for failing to deliver the change of government as expected, and I am deeply sorry,” Hou told supporters participating in the election-night rally.
“I respect the final choice of the voters. This is a democratic election, which means that the voters decide the election’s outcome. We need to face the voters and listen to them. We should move forward based on voters’ expectations,” Hou told rally participants.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
“I would like to congratulate Vice President Lai and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), with winning the election. I also hope that they would not disappoint Taiwanese... They should have Taiwanese in mind and listen to them. We had a competitive race, but the most important thing is that all political parties should unite Taiwanese after the election in face of all possible challenges in the future. The last thing we need is a divided Taiwan,” he said.
Hou encouraged supporters to turn anger and frustration into power to oversee the DPP government, saying this is the way to move Taiwan forward and defend the nation.
“We will not disappear. Instead, we should become stronger, grow further and move forward. This is the attitude of Taiwanese,” Hou said. “I will roll up my sleeves and work tomorrow, so I would not disappoint people’s support for me.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
A New Taipei City resident surnamed Hsu (許), who voted for Hou and his vice presidential candidate, Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), told the Taipei Times she was disappointed about the result, but that she was even more disappointed in Taiwan’s young people, as many of them voted for Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) following the breakdown of plans to form a “blue-white” KMT-TPP alliance last year.
“After what happened in the Nov. 23 meeting between KMT and TPP leaders, people can see that Ko is dishonest and cannot be trusted. He can change his political opinions just like that, and yet he could still garner a sizeable share of the popular vote this time. I am just speechless,” Hsu said.
Although the TPP and KMT at first agreed to cooperate in the legislature, the two parties eventually parted ways after failing to agree whether Hou or Ko should be the presidential candidate.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Hsu said that Hou was outperformed by Lai, even in New Taipei City, where Hou has served as mayor for five years and as deputy mayor for eight years.
“It was like what happened to former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who ran for president soon after he was elected mayor. Hou did pretty well as New Taipei City mayor and was even re-elected in 2022, but people probably thought he was no different from other politicians, who went ahead to pursue a higher office after they were re-elected in local elections,” Hsu said.
However, Hsu said, the KMT performed well in the legislative elections and even flipped a few seats previously held by DPP legislators, adding that she hoped the party would be a check and balance on the power of the DPP government.
The turnout rate for the presidential race was 71.86 percent, Central Election Commission data showed.
The KMT lost in the three-way presidential race in 2020, capturing 38.61 percent of the votes. Prior to that, the party lost in the three-way presidential race in 2000, garnering only 23.1 percent of the votes.
Passengers aboard Korean Airlines Flight KE189 arrived in Taichung safely yesterday after a scare the previous day encountering uncontrolled decompression, which injured 13 passengers. Flight KE189 departed from Incheon at 4:45pm on Saturday bound for Taichung with 125 passengers on board. The flight was above Jeju Island when a fault in the pressurization system occurred 50 minutes after takeoff. Online flight tracker Flightradar24’s data show that the plane dropped more than 8,000 meters within 15 minutes, before it returned and landed back at Incheon Airport at 19:38pm. Thirteen passengers on board had a headache or earache due to the incident and were hospitalized. A different
China might seek to isolate Taiwan and weaken its economy through a “quarantine,” which would make it difficult for the US to respond and force Taipei to negotiate on unification, CNN reported on Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “increasingly bellicose actions” toward Taiwan have heightened concerns that Beijing would use its military against Taiwan, it said, citing a report by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). However, China might choose to initiate a quarantine, rather than a military invasion of Taiwan, to avoid US involvement, it said. “A quarantine [is] a law enforcement-led operation to control
President William Lai (賴清德) should backpedal from his new “two-state theory” and return to the “one China” principle in line with the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution, to foster and rebuild mutual trust across the Taiwan Strait, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday. Hsiao made the remark after the Chinese government on Friday revealed guidelines saying that its courts, prosecutors, and public and state security bodies should “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession crimes by the law, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.” The Democratic Progressive Party’s “kneejerk” reaction every
A new message broadcast on the Taipei MRT’s Wenhu (Brown) Line urging passengers to yield their seats to those in need, not necessarily elderly people, would be extended to other MRT lines and public transportation in the capital, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday. Chiang was responding to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of a news conference at Taipei City Hall promoting healthy walking. Several disputes over priority seats on public transportation have recently been reported, sparking debate about who qualifies to sit in them, as most of the cases involved elderly people asking young people to give up their