Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday conceded defeat and promised to "keep all his promises" following his loss in the presidential election.
Hsieh lost to his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Ma Ying-jeou (
This is the second election setback for the DPP this year. It lost to the KMT in the legislative elections in January, with the KMT securing a strong majority.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsieh had said in the run-up to the election that he would quit politics if he lost. It is also customary in the DPP for the party chairman to bear the political responsibility for an election defeat by resigning from the post.
Hsieh, however, did not say anything about stepping down last night after talking to supporters who gathered outside his campaign office after the election result was released.
With the crowd chanting "Frank Hsieh, don't go" and "jiayou" (an expression of encouragement), Hsieh led his campaign team in bowing to the public and apologized to the people of Taiwan for failing them.
"This is my personal setback, not the failure of Taiwan," he said. "It is the outcome of democracy and not a failure. Don't cry for me tonight. I will continue to protect Taiwan and its people. My life is here, not anywhere else."
Hsieh said he was sorry that his party's performance failed to meet the expectations of the public and that he should be held responsible for the defeat.
"The people of Taiwan used their ballots to make a decision today," he said. "I accept the result of the election and I want to offer my congratulations to my competitor."
He urged DPP supporters to accept the election result and to face the loss calmly. Although the process was disputable, Hsieh said, he would accept the result and urged his supporters to do the same.
"Let's mend the fractures caused during the election process so that people can again live in an environment that is full of love and trust," he said.
Although the DPP lost the election, Hsieh said, there was a more important thing to do: to carry the torch of democracy.
"Let's turn our disappointment into power and continue to protect democracy," he said.
The country's development had never been plain sailing, Hsieh said. But the bigger the wind, the more determined we are, he added.
"We will always be with the people," Hsieh said. "I sincerely pray for Taiwan and we believe in the people and this land."
Hsieh thanked the hard work and contributions of his campaign team and volunteers. He said he would never forget the people whose hands he touched at the "million people high-five" rally organized by his party last Sunday.
Hsieh said he was deeply touched by the passion of the people that day and would forever remember their enthusiasm. He said he would use that enthusiasm to inspire himslef to continue to love Taiwan.
Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (
In addition to extending their congratulations to Ma and his running mate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Chen and Lu pledged to hand over power to the 12th president and vice president.
Chen and Lu praised the maturity of Taiwan's politics and the democratic accomplishment of its people.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,