Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Nantou County legislative candidate Ma Wen-jun (馬文君) yesterday garnered a total of 65,922 votes in a by-election, defeating her Democratic Progressive Party rival Lin Yun-sheng (林耘生) by a margin of more than 12,000 votes. Lin received 53,362 votes.
The legislative seat representing the county’s electoral district No. 1 — including Caotun (草屯), Guosing (國姓), Puli (埔里), Renai (仁愛), Jhongliao (中寮) and Yuchih (魚池) townships — was left open when its legislator, Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), was appointed premier in September.
Ma led in all townships in the district except Lin’s hometown of Caotun, where Lin won about 1,000 votes more than Ma.
Ma received more than 23,000 votes in her hometown of Puli, with Lin receiving 15,000 there.
Ma is mayor of Puli, while Lin served as legislator for the district from 2005 until last year.
The voter turnout for the by-election was 66.32 percent.
In a speech at a press conference held to announce her victory, Ma said she would build “the nation’s best tourism route for cyclists.” She also promised to lead the county’s cultural industry toward prosperity.
Legislative by-elections will also be held next month for Taoyuan County’s district No. 2 — to fill the vacancy left by KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井), who lost his seat for vote-buying — and in Taichung County’s district No. 3 — to replace KMT Legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福), who also lost his seat for vote-buying.
In addition, by-elections will be needed for Hsinchu, Chiayi, Hualien and Taitung Counties to fill some vacancies left by winners in yesterday’s polls.
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