Pan-blue candidate Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) won the Hualien County commissioner by-election yesterday after over a month's fierce campaigning.
Hsieh received 73,710 votes, 51.4 percent of the total cast. The DPP's You Ying-lung (游盈隆) gained 41,508 votes (28.9 percent), while the inpedendent Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟) had 26,205 votes (18.3 percent). The turnout rate was just over 55 percent.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The 64-year-old Hsieh, from Hualien's Shoufeng township, has previously served at the central government level in prominent positions such as secretary-general to the Executive Yuan and head of the Council of Labor Affairs as well as being a chief adviser to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Nevertheless, despite his local background he was never close to grassroots politics in his native county.
Although he had ceased to be actively involved in politics for a number of years, with support from both KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Hsieh won the KMT nomination for the commissioner race in late June. With the campaign resources of both parties to draw on, Hsieh was the favorite to win a seat that has been in KMT hands for over 50 years.
"Hsieh Shen-shan's victory is a positive result of the cooperation between the KMT and the PFP. This is the victory for all Hualien people, a victory for democratic development," said KMT Secretary General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正), at Hsieh's campaign headquarters yesterday.
PFP Deputy Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) said: "The KMT-PFP alliance has won the Hualien by-election, and we also hope with this alliance we can achieve a second transfer of power in March next year by winning the presidential election," Chin said.
Hsieh's chief opponent, You, was once the deputy secretary-general of the DPP and had already participated in three different elections in Hualien, twice running for the commissioner post and once for the legislature. Yesterday was his fourth consecutive defeat in Hualien.
In the 2001 election for county commissioner, You received some 47,000 votes and the DPP originally hoped You would see his share of the vote rise above 50,000.
But yesterday's results suggest that President Chen and the ruling DPP's performance has had a negative impact.
Nevertheless the relatively undeveloped isolated county cannot be taken as representative of Taiwan as a whole and its significance for the presidential election next March has been be overrated.
The election was called as a result of the May 18 death of former commissioner Chang Fu-hsing (張福興).
Last night, Hsieh vowed to realize all his campaign promises and invited his two opponents to join the county government as his consultants.
You thanked voters for their support and stressed that he had conducted a clean campaign.
In the campaign period the remote county was deluged with political heavyweights from Taipei.
Also See Stories:
Hualien Election: You vows to keep up the fight
Hualien Election: Cooperation credited with giving Hsieh win
Hualien Election: Some see vote as step backward for nation's democracy
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS