Print

Mail

wiki links

Swing voters prove crucial in Taipei County's contest

A Democratic Progressive Party supporter is stopped from stabbing himself in the stomach last night in the Banciao campaign headquarters of Luo Wen-chia, the DPP candidate for Taipei County commissioner, after Luo conceded defeat. PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) yesterday won the Taipei County commissioner seat with a decisive victory over Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The Central Election Commission's statistics showed that Chou garnered 988,739 votes, or nearly 55 percent of the total ballots. Luo's ballot-count stood at 798,233 votes, or more than 44 percent of the total.

Chou, a former People First Party (PFP) member, switched allegiance to the KMT in April this year to become the KMT's flag-bearer for the county.

Unfazed by a bad loans scandal, Chou won with the backing of united pan-blue camp and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Chou said his victory is a boon to democracy as well as ethnic harmony. He pledged to stamp out corruption and to promote a merger between Taipei County and Taipei City.

Luo extended his congratulations to Chou in his concession speech last night. He said Chou had fought an honorable battle and called on his supporters to respect the election result.

Police authorities had deployed more than 400 officers at Chou and Lou's headquarters yesterday to prevent possible conflicts.

Many of Luo's supporters expressed their disappointment at his campaign headquarters in Banciao last night. One man even tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the stomach, but was stopped by bystanders.

Observers said the controversial vote-buying allegations that Chou launched against Luo two days before the elections -- involving Luo allegedly paying people to participate in his campaign rally last Sunday -- were a turning point that swayed swing voters yesterday.

However, adding to the controversy of Chou's victory, it came to light yesterday that his allegations could be a total fabrication.

Taipei County was considered the most important and hotly contested of the 23 races, given its population of 3.7 million -- easily the biggest county in the country -- and its location adjacent to the capital.

The DPP governed Taipei County for the past 16 years, even though pan-blue supporters account for nearly 55 percent of the county's eligible voters.

The DPP was in the past able to best the KMT candidates by narrow margins because of disunity within the pan-blue camp. This time, however, Chou won thanks to a unified pan-blue support base.

Ma saw the Taipei County race as a test of his popularity ahead of the 2008 presidential poll.

Chou's victory can be seen as a confirmation of Ma's growing popular support since he took the helm as KMT chairman in July.

Many believed the KMT's victory was due to Ma's vowing to quit as KMT chairman if the party did not win more than half of the 21 races in which the KMT fielded a candidate. The strategy worked to turn the election into a battle to safeguard Ma, who is seen as the pan-blues' only hope for ousting the DPP in the next presidential poll.

Although DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) vowed on Friday that he would resign if Luo lost, it is unlikely that DPP supporters will blame him for the party's poor performance, political analyst Liao Da-chi (廖達琪) of National Chungshan University said.
This story has been viewed 3049 times.