Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the Democratic Progressive Party won re-election yesterday, defeating a challenge by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) and three independents.
However, no official tallies were available from the Central Election Committee as of press time last night.
Cheng’s success in securing a second term did not surprise political observers, as he had maintained a solid lead over Chen in pre-election opinion polls.
However, he had also faced strong competition from former KMT legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環), who ran as an independent candidate after failing to win the KMT’s nomination, as well as Chu Mei-hsueh (朱梅雪) and Wu Fu-tung (吳富彤).
In the Nov. 29, 2014, nine-in-one elections Cheng beat then-Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) of the KMT with 51 percent of the vote to become the city’s first mayor after it was elevated to a special municipality the following month.
Voters in Taoyuan, as in other cities across the nation, waited in long lines to cast their votes.
One man, surnamed Lee (李), said he voted for Cheng because he thought a controversial underground railway project would be postponed if Taoyuan had a new mayor, adding that the project had been delayed too long.
Even though construction of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line did not begin during Cheng’s term, Lee said the system runs normally, which has been a great help to real-estate development in the Cingpu (青埔) Urban Planning Zone.
“I handle housing loans at a bank. We have seen a lot of investment from real-estate developers,” Lee said. “We have businesses coming in, and that was our hope.”
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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