The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was dealt another round of setbacks at the local level yesterday after it lost a number of seats that were contested in 17 councilor speaker and vice speaker elections, while three councilors supported by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were elected.
The KMT nominated 10 council speakers and eight were elected. In vice speaker elections, the party nominated eight and five were elected.
Political analysts said yesterday that because municipal councils have historically been controlled by the KMT, the results could be seen as a win for the DPP.
All of the 17 speaker seats were controlled by KMT-supported councilors in the last session.
The DPP-supported councilors were elected yesterday in Chiayi City, Chiayi County and Hsinchu County.
In other news, independent councilors were elected as speaker in Kinmen and Lienchiang counties. The DPP controls a total of 128 county or city council seats in the 17 cities and counties compared with 289 by the KMT.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the party had a different nomination strategy this time around.
In other words, the party rejected nominating controversial figures, he said. Although the total number was lower than they had before, Su said, it was the price they had to pay during the process of party reform.
Meanwhile, vice speaker of Hualien County Council Lai Ching-kun (賴進坤) was re-elected yesterday but later indicted for vote-buying.
Lai, a KMT member, was re-elected yesterday morning, but may not be in office long.
Hualien prosecutors said if Lai was found guilty, he would be removed from his post.
Lai was charged with vote buying for allegedly bribing voters with NT$2,000 in cash in December’s county’s councilor election, prosecutors said they have solid evidence that Lai used money in the election.
Lai has denied the charge.
There are 33 councilors in Hualien County, and Lai garnered 26 ballots in yesterday’s election.
In related news, the current speaker of Chaiyi City Council Tsai Kuei-szu (蔡貴絲) of the KMT was defeated by independent councilor Lin Cheng-hsun (林承勳) by one ballot yesterday in yesterday’s speakership election.
Tsai is Hsiao Teng-shih’s (蕭登獅) wife. Hsiao is former chairman of the Chiayi Farmers’ Association and was arrested on Friday.
Chiayi City Council has 24 councilors.
Police said some councilors had complained of being threatened by gangsters; 19 had police escorts before the election.
Hsiao’s arrest was believed to have had an impact on his wife’s election.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND KO SHU-LING
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
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
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS