Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-cheng (鄺麗貞) yesterday lost in her attempt to secure the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination after she was defeated in the party primary by KMT Legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭).
Huang won 45.6 percent to Kuang’s 37.1 percent after the result of a party member vote was combined with that of a telephone poll, meaning Huang will represent the party in the county commissioner election scheduled for December.
Kuang won the member vote, beating Huang and the other hopeful, Taitung County Council Vice Speaker Rao Ching-ling (饒慶玲), but received only 25 percent of the telephone poll vote, while Huang won mroe than 54 percent.
The final results were determined by a combination of the vote and the opinion poll, with the poll accounting for 70 percent and the vote accounting for 30 percent.
Kuang did not make any statements about the result.
Kuang stirred controversy and drew widespread criticism last year for failing to cancel a 13-day trip to Europe ahead of a typhoon. The KMT suspended her party rights last August, but restored them later in December.
She accused Huang of smearing her reputation via text messages earlier this month and threatened to withdraw from the party and join the election as an independent candidate, but later agreed to compete with Huang and Rao in the primary.
Meanwhile, Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介), a KMT member, won the party primary in the city yesterday over rival National Cheng Kung University professor Ting Jen-fang (丁仁方), meaning Hsieh will represent the party in the year-end Tainan mayoral election.
The KMT has completed the primary process in most cities and counties, but will delay it in Taipei County, Taoyuan County, Taichung City, Taichung County, Tainan County and Pingtung County because the six cities and counties could be approved for status upgrade.
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