In the latest and perhaps most drastic attempt to boost support for his party with less than 48 hours remaining before the local elections, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he will resign as chairman if the KMT fails to get at least 11 candidates elected.
"If the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wins a majority in the elections, it means that the KMT is not good enough. I will resign as party chairman if the KMT fails to secure at least half of all seats in the elections," he said.
Eight cities and counties are currently under KMT control. As the party did not nominate any candidates in Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, by referring to "half of the seats," Ma apparently meant winning the election in at least 11 cities and counties.
Ma, who doubles as Taipei mayor, made the announcement yesterday at a press conference titled "Vote for yourself, be responsible for history" at the campaign headquarters of the KMT's Taipei County commissioner candidate, Chou Hsi-wei (
While the elections are being held to appoint new county commissioners and mayors, Ma urged voters to view the poll as a chance to cast a vote of no confidence in the DPP government.
"The DPP achieved nothing during its five years as the ruling party, and can only boost its support with smear campaigns and bribery," Ma said.
Liao Feng-teh (廖風德), head of the KMT's organization and development committee, said yesterday that the party's final strategy was to spur on "all pan-blue voters" to support the camp's candidates with "shocking" measures, especially in areas like Taipei, Ilan, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin and Pingtung counties and Chiayi City.
Meanwhile, stepping up pressure on the DPP's candidate for Taipei County, Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), Chou's team yesterday played a video which allegedly proves that Luo paid people to participate in a DPP campaign rally on Sunday.
The video showed someone giving away money on a bus.
"After double-checking the bus company's service list, we are sure that the bus took passengers from Luchou County to the DPP's rally last Sunday," People First Party Legislator Lee Yung-ping (
KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said the Chou team has reported the matter to the Banciao District Prosecutors' Office, and urged the prosecutors to complete their investigation as soon as possible.
The video was the pan-blue camp's latest piece of "evidence" allegedly proving that Luo's team had been involved in large-scale vote-buying at the DPP rally last Sunday. They claim that Luo's team paid each rally participant NT$150.
As of press time, the Banciao District Prosecutors' Office had subpoenaed 17 members of Luo's campaign team but had not yet searched his campaign office.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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