Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) of the Chinese Nationalist Pary (KMT) lost his re-election bid to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenger Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), after failing to cross the 50 percent threshold in the nine-in-one elections yesterday.
Cheng is to become the first mayor of Taoyuan, as the county government is scheduled to become one of the nation’s six special municipalities on Dec. 25.
Wu and Cheng had their first showdown in 2009, when the two ran for Taoyuan County commissioner. Wu defeated Cheng by winning 52 percent of the votes.
Graphic: TT
This time, Cheng secured 51 percent of the votes, exceeding the number of votes Wu won five years ago.
Wu conceded his defeat soon after learning the results.
“We need to accept the results of democracy,” Wu said. “My personal success or failure does not matter. I congratulate Cheng for winning the election. I hope he can continue to lead Taoyuan City as it becomes a special municipality. ”
Cheng said in his speech that he aims to transform Taoyuan with a more humble and more upright attitude and thanked DPP Chairperson Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文) and former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) for their assistance in his bid.
A Yangmei City (楊梅) resident surnamed Chen (陳) said he was surprised by the result because Wu’s performance during his term should not have cost him the election.
“I thought the margin between the two candidates would be small. I did not expect he would lose the election,” he said.
A voter in Nankan (南崁), surnamed Ho (何), said she did not strongly support any particular candidate, but she felt that Wu’s family has been deeply involved in politics in Taoyuan and would not have made needed changes.
“I think he should be replaced by someone new,” she said.
Wu’s family has produced three of the county’s commissioners, including Wu’s grandfather, Wu Hong-ling (吳鴻麟); Wu’s father, Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄); and Wu himself. Wu Po-hsiung is also an honorary KMT chairman.
Voting records show that 11 of 12 Taoyuan County commissioners were KMT members.
Former DPP chairman Hsu Shin-liang (許信良) was the first non-KMT Taoyuan County commissioner elected and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was the second non-KMT commissioner.
In 2001, the KMT regained power in Taoyuan County, after current New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) defeated DPP candidate Perng Shaw-jiin (彭紹瑾) by winning more than 50 percent of the votes in the commissioners’ election.
Chu was subsequently re-elected in 2005, beating DPP candidate Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) with more than 60 percent of the popular votes.
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