Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) acting chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
His opponent, KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
Wu garnered 86.97 percent of the votes, or 156,499 votes, against Hung's 13.03 percent, or 23,477 votes, the KMT's organization and development committee director Liao Fung-te (
The by-election attracted 181,374 of the KMT's more than 320,000 members with party rights nationwide -- a turnout rate of 53.75 percent.
Even before all the ballots were counted, Wu declared victory and promised to push for party unity and lead the KMT to victory in both the legislative and presidential elections.
"I'll spare no efforts to push for party unity and present the best candidates to win the legislative and presidential elections," Wu said.
Faced with the daunting tasks ahead, Wu said he would shoulder the heavy responsibility to reform the party, while reiterating his pledge that the by-election would be his last battle.
"This is my last battle and my last job ... Hopefully I can retire gracefully when the KMT wins the 2008 presidential election," he said.
Hung, who celebrated her 60-year-old birthday at party headquarters yesterday, congratulated Wu on his victory, while blaming her defeat on local media's interpretation of the by-election as a competition between agents for former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"It's not a war between agents for Wang and Ma. The media owes me an apology ... Now that the by-election is over, I congratulate Wu and expect him to lead the KMT towards victory in future elections," Hung said.
A flower basket sent by People First Party Chairman James Soong (
As a gesture of friendship, Wu showed up at party headquarters carrying a birthday cake for Hung, and led the crowd in singing and wishing her a happy birthday before making his victory statement.
However, when asked whether he would offer Hung any position in the party or nominate her in the legislative election, Wu declined to make any promises.
"The KMT needs her talents, and I will invite her to continue participating in party reform ... But she asked me not to discuss the issue in public," he said.
Hung had promised not to join the legislative election this year, but yesterday refused to reiterate her promise when asked to comment on the issue.
In response to Wang's previous comment urging the new chairman to refrain from further amending party regulations so that only members convicted on the third trial would be suspended, Wu said it would be a decision made by all party delegates.
"It's important that we only exclude those who are involved in `black gold,' and not chase out those who are actually not," Wu said.
The KMT removed the `black gold exclusion clause' after Ma was indicted on corruption charges to allow him to join the KMT's presidential primary. The KMT is expected to further relax its regulations when it holds its party congress in June.
The by-election was held after Ma resigned as chairman in February after his indictment.
Although Ma had left the party, victory for Wu -- a key ally of Ma, who served as his campaign director and helped him win in the Taipei mayoral elections in 1998 and 2002 -- ensures Ma's continued control over party affairs.
After learning of the election results, Ma -- who had publicly endorsed Wu's candidacy -- congratulated the new chairman.
The turnout rate in the last chairmanship election two years ago was 50.17 percent.
Ma garnered 72.4 percent of the votes, or 375,056 votes, against Wang's 27.6 percent, or 143,268 votes.
Wu will formally take over the chairmanship on Wednesday during the KMT's Central Standing Committee meeting.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai