Su Nan-cheng stages political comeback

Among the candidates celebrating their local election victories yesterday was a former political heavyweight who staged a successful comeback after his defeat in December's legislative and city mayor elections.

Su Nan-cheng (蘇南成), who was defeated in the Tainan City mayoral election on Dec. 1, bounced back last night as an independent, winning a seat as a Tainan City councilor, a position he had held from 1968 to 1977.

Su, 66, was once Kaohsiung City mayor and an adviser to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). He also served two terms as Tainan City mayor from 1977 to 1985 and was the speaker of the National Assembly in 1999.

With such a lengthy resume, however, Su's political career was once regarded by some to have reached an end.

Su stepped down as speaker of the National Assembly and was expelled from his party, the KMT, in 1999 after being accused of violating party orders.

The accusations stemmed from Su's decision to allow assembly deputies to vote a second time during the second reading of the controversial amendment on term extensions.

Su's victory last night was seen as a confidence boost for the former speaker as he bounced back onto the stage where he had once shined.

However, Wu Ko-ching (吳克清) of the KMT, another well-known politician who tried to re-enter politics after he failed to secure a third term as a legislator in December, was defeated yesterday in his bid to become mayor of Taoyuan County.

The speaker of Hsinchu County council, Huang Huan-chi (黃煥吉), also failed to secure a seat. Huang entered the race after losing in the legislative elections last month as a TSU candidate.

Huang is well known for his alleged involvement in a vote-buying scandal during the campaign for the Dec. 1 elections.

Huang was accused of using the county council's budget for personal use to purchase tea and moon cakes for voters.

He was later released on bail for health reasons.

Shih Chih-ming (施治明), a former Tainan City mayor, was also unsuccessful in his campaign to win a seat on the city council.

Like Huang, Shih was unsuccessful in his campaign for the Dec. 1 election.

Earlier this week, Shih, an independent, was indicted by Tainan City's Prosecutors' Office for alleged corruption during his term as the city's mayor from 1993 to 1997.