The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday held its first-ever direct election of local branch directors in 10 cities and counties, a poll that many believe will have a direct impact on the KMT’s strategic planning for next year’s elections for special municipality mayors and city and county councilors.
The KMT poll was held after the party passed an amendment to its charter during its congress in September last year to allow members to directly vote for the heads of their local branches.
Such positions were traditionally filled by party chairpersons, but the KMT’s defeat in last year’s presidential and legislative elections prompted many KMT members to call for internal reforms.
Photo: CNA
The results of the poll, which were revealed after 4pm, appear to reflect KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) leadership and his preparations for next year’s elections.
One of the most contested branch leader posts was in Taipei, where former Taipei Department of Civil Affairs commissioner Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹) ran against Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平).
Prior to the election, Huang Lu filed a lawsuit against Chung for what she called his unfounded allegations that she had tried to bribe voters. Chung filed a countersuit for false charges.
After Huang Lu was informally declared the winner, by 1,011 ballots, Chung withdrew his charges.
Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) appears to have won in Tainan, Hualien County Medical Association director Chou Yung-hung (鄒永宏) won in Hualien, Taitung County Councilor Wu Hsiu-hua (吳秀華) won in that county and former KMT legislator Tsao Erh-chang (曹爾忠) won in Lienchiang County.
Five races had only a single candidate, including the former mayor of then-Taipei County’s Sanchong City (三重) Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) in New Taipei City; Hsinchu County Councilor deputy speaker Chen Chien-hsien (陳見賢) in that county, and the incumbent branch directors in Taoyuan, Pingtung County and Kinmen County: Yang Ming-sheng (楊敏盛), Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝) and Lin Fang-hsuan (林芳旋).
The list of winning candidates will be formally announced after it is reviewed by the KMT’s Central Standing Committee on Wednesday, the party said.
Taipei saw the lowest turnout rate among the KMT’s 10 administrative areas, with just 19.09 percent, while Kinmen had the highest voting rate at 64.9 percent.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was accompanied by Huang Lu when he cast his ballot at Nanmen Elementary School in Taipei, but he did not speak to reporters.
Wu also cast his ballot at the school, saying the competition overall was intense, but he hoped to see “fair play.”
After polling closed and the provisional winners were announced, Wu said that he hopes the new directors will be faithful to the party, help collect grassroots opinion and unify local supporters.
He said he would not ask the new directors not to enter next year’s municipal elections because they can each weigh their own options.
The newly elected branch directors are to be sworn in on Wednesday next week.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS