Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and independent commissioner candidates romped to re-election yesterday, with wide margins of victory for incumbents making the east coast counties of Hualien and Taitung counties exceptions to the pan-green wave that swept most of the nation.
Independent Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) won twice as many votes as KMT challenger Tsai Chi-ta (蔡啟塔). He won 56.53 percent of the vote, up from 56.4 percent in 2009.
The election result was a resounding victory for Fu after his application to rejoin the KMT was rejected earlier this year.
Fu was expelled from the KMT when he stood for election in 2009 without party approval.
Fu’s campaign attracted special interest because his wife, Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), also registered to stand as a candidate for commissioner, in a move widely viewed as “insurance” against the emergence of court verdicts barring him from standing for re-election. Despite their separate candidacies, the husband and wife campaigned as a team, sharing a single headquarters and appearing together in advertisements.
Hsu’s candidacy mirrored her previous appointment as vice commissioner when Fu was first elected, for which purpose the couple temporarily filed for divorce before the appointment was declared illegal by the Ministry of the Interior.
Fu has been shadowed by lawsuits related to stock market speculation throughout his term.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) did not field a commissioner candidate in Hualien County, with DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) saying earlier this month that her party lacked adequate support to launch a viable challenge. The DPP has struggled to make inroads with the Hakka and Aboriginal constituencies who comprise about two-thirds of Hualien’s voters.
Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) of the KMT also trounced his opponent, DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪), in a rematch of the previous election. In 2009, the race was one of the closest in the nation, but yesterday Huang expanded his share of the vote to 54.41 percent, up from 52.6 percent.
The DPP fared better in Yilan County, where DPP incumbent Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) defeated his KMT opponent Chiu Shu-ti (邱淑媞) and expanded his margin of victory, winning re-election with 63.95 percent of the vote, compared with 54.2 percent in 2009.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS