The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday elected former deputy legislative speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the party’s first chairwoman in its more than 100-year history.
Hung secured 56.16 percent of the vote in the by-election, receiving 78,829 out of 140,358 votes cast, sparing the need to go to a second round of voting, which would have been required if none of the four candidates garnered more than 50 percent of the vote.
Voter turnout was 41.61 percent from a total of 337,351 eligible voters.
Photo: Reuters
KMT Acting Chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) placed second, securing 46,341 votes, or 33.02 percent.
Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) finished third, winning 7,604 votes, or 5.42 percent, while Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) won 6,784 votes, or 4.83 percent.
After the final results were published, Hung thanked all party members, regardless of whether they voted for her, for staying with the party and showing their support when the party is at its nadir.
“As long as we are together, solidarity and hope will be in our hands. I will lead the party to restore our homeland, which has been in ruins,” she said.
When asked what her plan for cross-strait affairs would be and whether she would plan a trip to China, she said that she has no such plans, adding that KMT-Chinese Communist Party dialogue would continue.
“We can have a firmer grasp of our future if we have a better understanding of [China] and if we can help convey [China’s responses] to the government,” she said.
According to statistics provided by the KMT, Hung received the greatest support in Kinmen County, among overseas KMT members and in Lienchiang County, securing 85.58 percent, 78.51 percent and 74.66 percent of votes respectively.
Hung also received broad support in the two largest electoral districts — New Taipei City (41,405 possible voters who cast 16,792 votes) and Kaohsiung (42,420 voters who cast 16,094 votes) — where she received 10,924 votes and 9,360 votes respectively, whereas Huang received 4,131 and 4,956 votes respectively.
The by-election was marred by numerous reports of election violations.
A day before the by-election, several Internet users posted messages on the Professional Technology Temple — Taiwan’s largest online academic bulletin board — saying that older members of their families who are KMT members had received two voting notifications with different numbers, meaning that they would be able to vote twice.
Hung’s office yesterday reported a number of voting irregularities encountered across the nation, such as people trying to vote without notifications or identification, voters trying to cast ballots for another person, voting booths that were not curtained off and posters campaigning for Huang placed on the doors of polling stations.
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
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
GUT FEELING: In the leaked memo, US Air Force General Mike Minihan urged mobile command personnel to go to a firing range, shoot at a target and ‘aim for the head’ A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025 — most likely over Taiwan — and urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year. In an internal memorandum that first emerged on social media on Friday, and was later confirmed as genuine by the Pentagon, Air Mobility Command Commander General Mike Minihan said that the main goal should be to deter “and, if required, defeat” China. “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan said. Minihan said that Taiwan’s presidential election
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