Although Taitung Council Speaker Wu Chun-li (
Wu, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who ran for the top job in Taitung County as an independent candidate, received 62,189 votes in Saturday's polls, triumphing over his rival, Taitung Deputy Commissioner Liu Chuan-hao (劉櫂豪), who also ran as an independent and received 40,173 votes.
Wu is currently Taitung Council Speaker.
The Ministry of Interior is likely to issue a suspension order when Wu assumes office on Dec. 27.
Wu and the KMT have said they will launch a legal battle against the order.
Wu was charged with corruption while serving as a Taitung County councilor in 1999.
Taitung District Court in 2002 sentenced him to 16 years in prison, but the Taiwan High Court's Hualien branch in 2003 reduced that sentence to seven years and eight months in jail.
Wu has appealed the ruling.
The Ministry of Interior has said that according to the Law on Local Government Systems (
The interior ministry also previously said that "if Wu is elected on Dec. 3, he must be suspended from his post in accordance with the law."
Minister of Justice Morley Shih (
Wu faces other difficulties. He was charged with vote-buying a few days before the elections, and was released on NT$1 million (US$29,800) bail.
Wu yesterday said that "there is no issue of suspension" because the Law and Local Government Systems applies mayors or commissioners, but the corruption lawsuit he faces occurred when he was a Taichung county councilor.
"As such, the law does not apply to me," he said.
Wu also said that the justice system would prove him innocent.
Wu's campaign headquarters said that Wu would be willing to run for the post again in a by-election.
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