Among the more unusual personalities celebrating legislative election victories yesterday were a TV celebrity, an award-winning movie actress, a basketball star and a convict.
Former DPP spokeswoman turned TV host, Sisy Chen (
She adopted what she described as an "alternative campaign strategy," involving no billboards or campaign rallies, but small events at which she generated publicity with performances of songs and entertainment routines in department stores and public parks.
Another media celebrity elected as an independent legislator is film star and former singer, May Chin (
Chin is best-known for her performance in The Wedding Banquet, directed by Oscar-winning Taiwanese director, Ang Lee (李安).
The PFP's Cheng Chih-long (
Among the more unsavory winners was convicted felon Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) who was elected as an independent legislator with 34,003 votes in Taichung County.
A former Taichung County Council speaker and an influential member of a local political faction in the county, Yen was convicted in August of attempted murder and corruption and denied bail by the Taiwan High Court. His campaign was conducted by his son, Yen Kuan-heng (
Yen remains in prison and his case is on appeal.
Another well-known gangland figure, Hsiao Teng-shih (
Hsiao, a former Chiayi City Farmers' Association chairman, was sentenced to three years in prison in July for illegally manipulating a Taiwan Provincial Farmers' Association election.
Also among the well-known defeated was sitting legislator Shih Ming-te (施明德) who failed to secure a legislative seat in Taipei City's southern constituency.
Shih, a former DPP chairman, had campaigned with Sisy Chen using an alternative campaign strategy, forsaking billboards and campaign rallies and often appearing with Chen at her informal performances.
Ko Szu-hai (柯賜海), who is well known for a series of high-profile and off-beat campaigns ostensibly on behalf of stray dogs, including taking groups of the strays with him to protest at government offices and bombarding the phone lines of businesses with repeating computerized telephone calls also failed to win a seat in Taipei South.
Ko, who maintains hundreds of stray dogs, has often been seen campaigning with a van full of the animals.
Actress Wang Hsiao-chan (
Wang had followed Chang throughout his campaign in order to attack him.
Two gay candidates, James Jan (詹銘洲) and Webster Chen (陳文彥), who sought to take the fight for homosexual rights into the national political arena, lost their bid for Kaohsiung City and Taipei City's northern district respectively.
The DPP's Chen Yi-hsin (陳義信), a national baseball star, was defeated in his run for an Aboriginal legislative seat.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,