Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Wei Chia-hsien (魏嘉賢) yesterday won the Hualien City mayoral by-election, overthrowing the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) rule of the city.
Wei won the by-election against his DPP opponent, Chang Mei-hui (張美慧), by a comfortable margin, with 17,923 votes to 13,958.
Wei secured 54.17 percent of the vote against Chang’s 42.18 percent, with a voter turnout of 40.87 percent.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
Wei declared victory about 80 minutes after ballot counting began at 4pm, thanking supporters in an emotional speech.
“I will dedicate myself over the next two years and four months. I will prove myself to voters,” Wei said. “I will serve all residents with utmost sincerity to make Hualien a city of warmth, a city that residents can be proud of.”
KMT Secretary-General Mo Tien-hu (莫天虎) expressed gratitude to voters at a post-election news conference, saying the KMT’s victory was an indicator of the public’s feelings toward the DPP government.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said the fact that Wei was able to win the election, despite the DPP’s “mudslinging and use of government resources” during the campaign, indicated that the public was dissatisfied with the DPP government.
“The DPP has to learn its lesson from the election’s result. Its control of the legislature and the central government does not allow it to abuse its power,” Chow said.
“If the DPP cannot refrain from ideological manipulation or the fanning of populist sentiment in hunting down the KMT, it will suffer more defeats in coming elections,” Chow said.
Chang congratulated Wei and encouraged him to continue late Hualien Mayor Tien Chih-hsuan’s (田智宣) unfinished work to improve residents’ well-being.
“Although I lost the election, I will serve the city in any capacity to continue Tien’s legacy,” Chang said.
Chang was the wife of Tien, who died of lung cancer on May 29. The by-election was held to fill the opening left by his death.
Tien won the Hualien mayoral election in 2014 with 62.15 percent of the vote.
DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said the party humbly accepted the defeat and congratulated Wei on his victory.
“Although the election’s result is disappointing, the DPP will not depart from its ideals of integrity and diligence, and it will continue to carry out reform in Hualien,” Wang said.
Yesterday’s by-election was the second local election since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office on May 20.
A by-election for mayor of Changhua County’s Tianwei Township (田尾) was held on July 23, which the incumbent KMT won.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS