Although the elections saw a surge in candidates inspired by the Sunflower movement, the majority of young candidates lost against their more established rivals yesterday.
All five city councilor candidates nominated by the pro-independence group Flanc Radical in Greater Kaohsiung and Hsinchu lost, despite a boost in media attention after the group’s campaign director, Yen Ming-wei (顏銘緯), hurled a copy of George Kerr’s book Formosa Betrayed at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Sept. 26.
Several activists who drew attention during the Sunflower movement also lost, including independent Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱), who ran for one the 12 city councilor seats in Taipei’s Shilin/Beitou (士林/北投) district.
Wang, whose campaign was bolstered by volunteers from pro-independence groups, had vowed to clamp down on the “privileged rich” with ties to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and China.
Pro-independence activist Jiho Chang (張之豪), who ran for a borough warden post in Keelung, finished third behind the KMT incumbent and another independent.
Although he is not a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, Chang joined the race as a participant in its People Power campaign, which saw 15 out of nearly 50 activists elected in borough warden elections nationwide.
“Although not ideal, I think the outcome can be considered acceptable, as this was the first time many of our candidates ran for public office,” said Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶), deputy director of the DPP’s Democracy Institute.
A similar project led by the Taiwan Solidarity Union and pro-independence youth group Formoshock Society secured one win among its 10 candidates.
Borough wardens are the lowest directly elected position in the nation, but their races are heavily tilted in favor of older candidates from the KMT who can mobilize personal or familial ties, said Yoshi Liu (劉敬文), a member of the Formoshock Society.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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