Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan yesterday saw their political “status quo” maintained after incumbent Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), both members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), succeeding in being elected for a second term in office.
Chen received 993,300 votes, or 68.09 percent of the votes cast, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayoral candidate Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) received 450,647 votes, for 30.89 percent of the total.
Independent mayoral candidate Chou Ke-sheng (周可盛) received 14,925 votes, or 1.02 percent of the total.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Chen’s votes had increased from 821,089 votes, or 52.79 percent of the total in 2010.
Chen said she would continue her policies of helping Greater Kaohsiung’s transition to a more habitable city, maintaining district equality, increasing social welfare and helping industry become more innovative.
Chen also expressed gratitude to supporters for voting for her and being steadfast supporters of the DPP, and extended thanks to all of her campaign personnel as well, as she had been busy overseeing the rebuilding the city after the gas pipeline explosions in early August.
Graphic: TT
Meanwhile, Yang acknowledged that he lost the election and said it was “a severe setback,” but said that he wished to thank the people of Greater Kaohsiung who had supported him.
In Greater Tainan, although the mayoral candidates’ nominations of both parties had all but settled the question of who would win the election, the focus on the mayoral elections was instead on the number of votes that Lai would receive.
Though Lai’s popularity in the city was expected, pundits said that the more votes Lai received, the more it would help his future career.
Graphic: TT
Greater Tainan election results concluded with Lai receiving 711,557 votes, or 72.9 percent of the votes, while the KMT’s Huang Hsiu-shuang (黃秀霜) received 264,536 votes, or 27.1 percent of the total.
Compared with the results from the previous election in 2010, Lai’s votes have increased by 91,660 from 2010’s 619,897, and his support rate has increased by 12.49 percentage points from 60.41 percent.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern