The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday won an absolute majority in the 113-seat legislature for the first time, with 60 percent of its regional legislative candidates winning in their respective electoral districts and securing more than 44 percent of the vote.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has lost the 64-seat majority it won in 2012, retaining 35 seats in the legislature.
The newly formed New Power Party (NPP) had spectacular success, winning all three districts where it fielded regional legislative candidates and crossing the 5-percentage-point threshold to be awarded legislator-at-large seats.
Graphic: Constance Chou and June Hsu, Taipei Times
The most attention-grabbing legislators-elect are the NPP’s Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) and Freddy Lim (林昶佐), as well as the DPP’s Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Hualien County, who had all been predicted to have tough battles in traditional KMT strongholds.
The DPP achieved a home run in the cities and counties south of the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) — Yunlin and Chiayi counties, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung City — winning a total of 21 seats.
Former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was defeated in Keelung by the DPP’s Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應).
Graphic: Constance Chou, Taipei Times
In New Taipei City, which has 12 electoral districts and where KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) serves as mayor, the KMT lost eight seats that it formerly held, with only two lawmakers — Luo Ming-tsai (羅明才) and Lin Te-fu (林德福) — retaining their seats.
The DPP won seven more seats than it had four years ago, securing nine seats, while the NPP secured one.
Huang, one of the leading Sunflower movement activists, defeated incumbent KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), who had been elected seven times in a row, in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
Photo: CNA
KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), whose “30-second ramming through” of the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 helped spark the Sunflower movement and who was seeking his fourth term, lost his seat to the DPP’s Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌).
In Taoyuan, where the KMT had won all six electoral districts in 2012, the DPP gained three seats, while the KMT retained two and an independent won one.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) snatched a seat in Hsinchu City, which had belonged to the KMT.
In Hsinchu County, former commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金), a non-affiliated candidate supported by the DPP, was defeated by KMT legislative candidate Lin Wei-chou (林為洲).
The KMT managed to retain two seats each in Miaoli and Nantou counties.
In Taichung, the KMT won three out of eight districts — dropping from five in 2012 — while the DPP won four, with Hung winning the final seat.
In Changhua County’s four electoral districts, the DPP gained three seats, while the KMT won one, a reversal of what the two parties won in the county four years ago.
In eastern Taiwan, both electoral districts in Hualien and Taitung counties saw their respective DPP candidates elected.
The outlying islands — Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu — elected DPP, KMT and KMT lawmakers respectively.
The DPP, KMT, People First Party (PFP) and NPP were the only four parties to cross the 5-percentage-point threshold for legislator-at-large seats.
A total of 18 candidates on the DPP’s legislator-at-large candidate list secured seats with the party’s 44 percent of party representation vote.
The KMT received 11 seats through 26.9 percent of party votes.
The PFP, with 6.5 percent of party votes, won 3 seats, while the NPP garnered 6.1 percent for 2 seats.
INCREASED RISK: The Omicron BA.2.75 subvariant has higher immune evasive capacity, but the CECC is more concerned about newer subvariants such as XBB and BQ.1 With the peak season for infectious respiratory diseases coming to an end, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that details of the next phase of lifting COVID-19 masking rules — removing the mask requirement in most indoor settings — are to be announced this week. Discussions on lifting other COVID-19 restrictions are also being held, including further easing border control measures, home isolation requirements and revising the definition for reporting cases, while also downgrading COVID-19 to a lower category of notifiable communicable disease, said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC. As the daily
PEACE AND STABILITY: The two nations called for the peaceful resolution of cross-Taiwan Strait issues through dialogue without the threat or use of force or coercion The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked France and Australia for voicing their support for Taiwan, saying that peace across the Taiwan Strait is crucial to the stability and prosperity of international society. France and Australia on Monday pledged to deepen ties with Taiwan and reiterated their support for its participation in international organizations at this year’s Foreign and Defense Ministerial Consultations in Paris. The meeting between French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) and Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles was the second
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM: Czech president-elect Petr Pavel said his nation stands firmly on the side of democracy and would boost cooperation with Taipei in all aspects Czech president-elect Petr Pavel spoke by telephone with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, a highly unusual move given the lack of formal ties and a diplomatic coup for Taipei. Tsai spoke with Pavel for 15 minutes in a harmonious atmosphere, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said, adding that Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was also present during the conversation. Lin quoted Pavel as telling Tsai that Taiwan is a trustworthy partner, adding that the Czech Republic stands firmly on the side of democracy and supports Taiwan in maintaining a lively democratic system free from authoritarian coercion. The Czech Republic would
THINK TANK VISIT: The former US Indo-Pacific official said that a capture of Taiwan’s outlying islands by China rather than a large-scale attack is a grave security concern The US and Taiwan can deepen their relations on many fronts, former head of the US Indo-Pacific Command Philip Davidson said yesterday while visiting President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office. Davidson is leading a six-member delegation from the National Bureau of Asian Research, a US-based think tank. They arrived on Monday and are scheduled to depart tomorrow. Tsai met with the delegation yesterday morning, welcoming the organization on its first visit to Taiwan since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the office said in a statement. She thanked Davidson, a retired admiral, for paying close attention to matters regarding the Taiwan