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.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS