The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) fared better than the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in elections for borough and village chiefs and township councilors on Saturday, official results from the Central Election Commission (CEC) showed.
Local elections were held in 17 counties and cities — Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Yilan, Kinmen, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) Counties, and in Keelung, Hsinchu and Chiayi cities.
CEC figures for borough and village chief elections showed that the KMT received 22.35 percent of the vote, the DPP 1.44 percent and the TSU 0.01 percent, while independent candidates received 76.2 percent. In the township elections, the KMT garnered 28.1 percent of the vote, the DPP 10.38 percent and the People First Party (PFP) 0.01 percent, while 61 percent went to independent candidates. Notably, the Chinese Unification Promotion Party won 0.05 percent of the votes, slightly more than the PFP.
Voter turnout was relatively low. A little more than 55 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the borough and village chief elections, while about 57 percent voted in the township elections, the CEC said.
Local election commissions are expected to announce the final results within a week and the elected candidates will be sworn in on Aug. 1, the CEC said.
Reacting to the results yesterday, the DPP said it was on track to realize its goal of winning at least 1,000 seats by the end of the special municipality elections in November.
While DPP candidates only gained about 70 seats, a spokesperson said that if pan-green independent candidates were factored in, the party managed to almost double its showing.
DPP spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said the party estimated it had won about 600 seats, or 10 percent of the total.
“This shows the DPP’s reforms over the past two years are supported by the people,” he said.
At a campaign stop yesterday, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the results were an improvement and she hoped the party’s success would continue.
Meanwhile, KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said the party’s grassroots power base remained strong, adding that he would ask elected township leaders to fulfill their duties, while stepping up efforts to campaign for party candidates in the November elections.
“In total, the KMT managed to maintain hold of almost 50 percent of the seats in the elections. However, we will not rest on our laurels and will continue to work hard to seek victory in November’s elections,” KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said.
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