Three-term Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) yesterday said he would not seek re-election, citing the results of the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 last year in Keelung.
“Since the KMT lost last year’s mayoral campaign, as someone who took on a heavy role in campaigning, I should not only humbly listen to the choice of city residents, but should also take appropriate responsibility and make good my promise,” Hsieh wrote in a Facebook post, referring to his promise not to seek re-election if KMT mayoral candidate Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) lost.
Hsieh Kuo-liang said he would continue to help the KMT’s Keelung branch as a volunteer, leaving open the possibility for a campaign role in the next legislative election in January next year.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) beat Hsieh Li-kung in the city, which had long been viewed as a KMT stronghold.
However, a corruption scandal that led to a split in the KMT camp, former Keelung city council speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) ran as an independent candidate after he was detained on suspicion of violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Lin won the mayor’s race with an increase of 10 percentage points over his previous campaign in 2012, when he ran against Hsieh Kuo-liang for Keelung’s single legislative seat.
Hsieh Kuo-liang’s announcement signals the end to a 10-year legislative career that saw him serve as the KMT caucus whip as well as cochairman of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Hsieh, who holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and renounced his US citizenship to serve as a legislator, is the scion of a prominent Keelung political family.
The family also owns a number of businesses and schools such as the Sangong Group, the Second Credit Cooperative of Keelung and the Keelung Er Xin High School.
When he was first elected in 2004 on the People’s First Party’s (PFP) ticket, he became the youngest member of the legislature. He switched allegiance to the KMT in 2006.
DPP Keelung branch chairman Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) yesterday said that he will campaign for the party’s nomination for the seat. Lawyer Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) announced her own candidacy for the nomination earlier this month.
Rumored pan-blue candidates include Hsieh Li-kung, KMT Legislator Hsu Shao-ping’s (徐少萍) son, Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥), and KMT Keelung City Councilor Han Liang-chi (韓良圻), as well as Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) of the PFP, who represented the city in the Legislative Yuan for three consecutive terms.
Additional reporting by Yu Chao-fu
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