A total of 54 hopefuls registered on Friday, the last day of candidacy registration, to run for 17 seats in the year-end mayoral and county commissioner elections, information from the Central Election Commission showed.
Except for Taoyuan County, where the Hakka party nominated one candidate, the race will be among the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and independents.
In Kinmen County, which has a population of about 85,000, seven candidates will vie for the county commissioner seat, which is the highest number of hopefuls registered to compete for one seat.
The hopefuls in the Kinmen race include independent candidate Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典), a former KMT legislator, and the KMT’s nominee Lee Wo-shi (李沃士).
In Taitung County, with incumbent County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) agreeing to withdraw from the race at the last minute, the KMT has been able to integrate its local factions to make it a two-way battle with the DPP candidate.
In Pingtung, Yunlin and Yilan counties, the KMT and the DPP will each field one candidate, which means that those seats will be a straight fight between the two major parties.
This is not the case in Hsinchu, Chiayi or Nantou counties, where there are four aspirants for each seat. Among the hopefuls in the Hsinchu County race are KMT-nominated Legislator Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) and Hsinchu County Council Speaker Chang Pi-chin (張碧琴), who was expelled by the KMT on Monday for registering for the county commissioner election. It will be three-way races in Miaoli, Taoyuan, Hualien, Penghu, Lienchiang (Matsu) and Changhua counties, as well as in Chiayi, Keelung and Hsinchu cities.
In Yunlin County, a recent survey by the United Daily News put incumbent DPP Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) far ahead of the KMT’s last-minute nominee, Wu Wei-chi (吳威志).
In Hualien County, KMT Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), who is running as an independent, is leading KMT nominee Tu Li-hua (杜麗華) and Hualien County Deputy Commissioner Chang Chih-ming (張志明), who recently withdrew from the KMT to run as an independent candidate, the newspaper poll showed.
Meanwhile, a KMT official said yesterday the party would expel those who do not toe the party line and run as independents in elections.
Juan Kang-meng (阮剛猛), director of the KMT’s Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee, said that five KMT members, including Fu, Wu and Chang Chi-ming will be expelled when the KMT steering committee meets today.
The year-end “three-in-one” elections for mayors and county commissioners, city and county councilors, and city and township heads will be held on Dec. 5.
Because seven cities and counties — Taipei County, Taichung City and county, Tainan City and county and Kaohsiung City and county — will be upgraded or merged into municipalities, the elections will be held in only 17 cities and counties.
The polls will be the first crucial test of the government’s popularity since the harsh criticism it faced over the 700 deaths, massive flooding and landslides that occurred in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot in August.
The elections are also seen as an indicator toward the outcome of next year’s municipal elections and the 2012 presidential election.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
RSS