While central Taiwan voted in support of the pan-blue camp four years ago, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) managed to capture Taichung County and Changhua County this year by a narrow margin.
Meanwhile, the eastern region of the country, along with the offshore counties, voted pan-blue again this year, as expected.
Li Chin-shiang (利錦祥), head of the DPP's Taichung County headquarters, said before the voting that at least two factors had contributed to an increase in pan-green support in the county.
"In Taichung County, a native Taiwanese consciousness has been a big factor in winning constituent support. Most of the residents here have been receptive to the DPP's stance on the Chinese missile threat," Li said.
"At present, about half of the Taichung population works in the agricultural industry, which is uncertain about the impact of opening direct links with China," Li said.
Li also said that the DPP enjoyed the benefits of incumbency in Changhua County, where the DPP's Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) serves as county commissioner.
While 62 percent of Taichung County voted in 2000 for one or the other member of this year's pan-blue presidential ticket, with 38 percent going to People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and 24 percent to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) walked away with 52 percent of the county's votes yesterday. Chen got only 37 percent of the vote in Taichung County in 2000.
In the last election, 34 percent and 26 percent of the votes in Changhua County went to Soong and Lien respectively, with Chen getting 40 percent of the votes. This year, 48 percent of its votes went to the pan-blue camp, with 52.26 percent voting for Chen.
"A minor injury to President Chen Shui-bian has led to a major injury to the KMT," Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
Before the voting, Wang Yeh-lih (王業立), chairman of Tunghai University's department of political science, discussed the situation in Taichung.
"The battle in Taichung is a close one. It's just going to depend on the ability of each camp to mobilize voters, and the KMT has traditionally had more success with that in central Taiwan. Still, the pan-green camp started campaigning in the central area very early this time," Wang said.
Chen's promise to build a science park in central Taiwan, which is seen as providing possible economic benefits to the region, was credited with drawing in new DPP voters.
In Taichung City and in Nantou, Chen was able to close the gap that had existed between the pan-blue and pan-green camps. In Taichung City, where 63 percent of voters went pan-blue and 37 percent voted pan-green in 2000, 52.66 percent voted for Lien and 47 percent for Chen this year.
Similarly, in Nantou County, 65 percent of the vote went to the pan-blue camp in 2000 and 34 percent to the pan-green camp. This year, 51 percent voted pan-blue and 49 percent voted pan-green.
DPP legislative caucus leader Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said before the voting that reconstruction efforts after the 921 earthquake in 1999 were the primary factor that Nantou residents would vote on.
In the eastern region, covering Hualien and Taitung, the pan-blue camp won the majority of votes yesterday, as was the case four years ago.
Huang Hsien-tung (黃憲東), spokesman for the DPP's Hualien County campaign headquarters, said before the voting that highway construction might have a large effect on this year's voting.
"Hualien has traditionally voted for the KMT. The debate over whether to continue construction on the Suao-Hualien Expressway has affected the vote," Huang said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
RSS