As the campaign for the Hualien County commissioner by-election wound up yesterday, it was still unclear which of the three main candidates would emerge victorious.
"I have never witnessed any election like this where up until the day before the election, there are still so many undecided voters, up to 30 or 40 percent," DPP candidate You Ying-lung (
Each of the three key contenders has strong backing either from a party or grassroots support.
Big-name politicians from the DPP, KMT and PFP have swarmed to Hualien over the past few weeks to stump for their candidates.
President Chen Shui-bian (
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Although Hsieh led opinion polls in the weeks leading up to the election, You and and independent candidate Wu Kuo-tung (
You has been trying to expand the DPP's support base of around 30 percent of the electorate by targeting Aboriginal and Hakka communities -- traditionally staunch supporters of the pan-blue camp.
The DPP candidate may benefit from central government moves to deliver better services to the county's Aboriginal communities and the around-the-clock police checks to prevent vote-buying in Aboriginal areas.
Hsieh's attempts to generate a "dump Wu to save Hsieh" campaign are also falling flat, as die-hard supporters of Wu have made themselves more visible.
On Thursday, for example, Wu's motorcade rally of about 6,000 supporters was much bigger than one the same day held for Hsieh that was joined by Lien and Soong.
Wu, a Hakka from Hualien, has played on his ethnicity and seems to be denting the DPP's appeal in Hakka townships.
Moreover, Wu has secured the support of several PFP stalwarts in Hualien, despite Soong's backing for Hsieh.
Local polling analysts predict a tight contest, with the winning margin likely to be no more than 5,000 votes.
They said the winner would need the votes of at least 55,000 of the 256,685 eligible voters.
In the last Hualien County commissioner election, the KMT's Chang Fu-hsing (張福興) garnered 59,591 votes, while the DPP's You received 47,596 votes and the PFP's Lai Cheng-hsiung (賴政雄) got 41,752 votes.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
RSS