The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) won yesterday’s legislative by-election in Taichung’s second electoral district, defeating the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and three other candidates.
Lin received 88,752 votes, or 52.3 percent, versus Yen’s 80,912 votes, or 47.7 percent, unofficial figures from the Taichung Central Election Commission showed, after the votes at all 258 polling stations had been counted. Yen conceded defeat at about 5:50pm.
In her victory speech, Lin thanked voters for their support, and pledged to work hard and serve the constituency.
Photo: CNA
Candidates were running for the position left vacant after former Taiwan Statebuilding Party legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) lost a recall vote in October last year.
In a statement yesterday, the DPP urged the public to “get back on the right track” now that the by-election was over, and show solidarity in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
KMT spokesman Ling Tao (凌濤) said the voices of local residents had been “engulfed by the state apparatus.”
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
The KMT would not lose heart, but would continue the fight so that voters could “remove the peremptory ruling party” in the 2024 presidential election, Ling said.
A number of suspected breaches of election laws were reported yesterday, including several people who allegedly took pictures of passers-by or placed cameras near polling stations.
It was reported that people took pictures of passers-by outside the polling stations at two elementary schools, while a man was suspected of using a hand-held counter near another elementary school’s polling station, Lin’s office said.
A woman who placed a camera about 30m from a polling station was asked to leave the site.
However, she allegedly used a camera hidden in a coffee cup to take pictures and was again told to leave.
Taichung police said they had reported the woman to local prosecutors, who would determine whether she was breaking the law.
The Taichung election commission said that a person who is found to have taken pictures with a camera within 30m of a polling station, or interfered with or created a disturbance during an election, could face a sentence of up to two years in prison, short-term imprisonment or a fine of up to NT$150,000, based on the Criminal Code.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui and Lin Liang-sheng
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS