The political geography was little changed yesterday as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), failed to boost their local standings.
Taipei City residents did not enthusiastically take part in the election. Statistics showed only 61 per-cent of voters cast ballots.
PHOTO: WU CHENG-TING, TAIPEI TIMES
In northern Taipei City, or district one, the pan-green camp and the pan-blue camp split the 10 seats down the middle. But the district was the only place the DPP's ballot-allocation strategy worked.
In district two, the pan-blue camp of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party (PFP) and New Party, retained their strong influence.
The KMT and the DPP each won three seats, the PFP took two and the TSU won one. Independent Li Ao (
The KMT's Lai Shyh-bao (
In Taipei County, the DPP held onto its 11 seats but its ally didn't fare as well. The TSU lost one of the two seats it had gained in 2001 election. The pan-blue camp added three more seats to the 13 it won in 2001 for a total of 16. KMT candidate Wu Yu-sheng (
Although President Chen Shui-bian (
In Taichung City, the pan-green and the pan-blues evenly split the eight seats being contested.
In Yunlin County, the pan-greens gained some ground, although the election was affected by the arrest of former county commissioner Chang Jung-wei (
The pan-greens added one seat to the two they won in the country in 2001 with the victory of TSU councilwoman Yin Lin-in (
In Chiayi County, the DPP safeguarded its three seats by taking 63 percent of the vote, while a KMT candidate won the other seat.
In Tainan County, home not only to President Chen but fanatic pan-green supporters, the DPP held onto its five seats by taking al-most half the votes. The KMT won two seats and an independent candidate took the remaining seat.
In Tainan City, the pan-green camp lost one of the four seats won in 2001 as the TSU's candidate lost. The KMT won two seats and a PFP candidate won one.
In the two electoral districts of Kaohsiung City, the pan-greens gained about 53 percent of the vote, a significantly improvement over the 48 percent won in 2001.
The DPP's Lee Kun-tse (
But the pan-green's vote-allocation strategy didn't work in the southern dis-trict, where they lost one seat. The greens won seven seats, the KMT took two and the PFP won two.
In Pingtung County, the DPP lost one of its four seats. The KMT won two seats and and an independent candidate took one.
In eastern Taiwan, the pan-blues continued their tradition of strong showings. In Taitung County, KMT Legislator Huang Chien-ting (
In Hualien County, DPP Legislator Lu Po-chi (
In offshore counties, independents and other candidates did well. Penghu County's sole seat was won by Lin Ping-kun (
Four Aboriginal candidates were elected in plains townships. The DPP's Chen Ying (
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS