While central Taiwan voted in support of the pan-blue camp four years ago, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) managed to capture Taichung County and Changhua County this year by a narrow margin.
Meanwhile, the eastern region of the country, along with the offshore counties, voted pan-blue again this year, as expected.
Li Chin-shiang (利錦祥), head of the DPP's Taichung County headquarters, said before the voting that at least two factors had contributed to an increase in pan-green support in the county.
"In Taichung County, a native Taiwanese consciousness has been a big factor in winning constituent support. Most of the residents here have been receptive to the DPP's stance on the Chinese missile threat," Li said.
"At present, about half of the Taichung population works in the agricultural industry, which is uncertain about the impact of opening direct links with China," Li said.
Li also said that the DPP enjoyed the benefits of incumbency in Changhua County, where the DPP's Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) serves as county commissioner.
While 62 percent of Taichung County voted in 2000 for one or the other member of this year's pan-blue presidential ticket, with 38 percent going to People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and 24 percent to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) walked away with 52 percent of the county's votes yesterday. Chen got only 37 percent of the vote in Taichung County in 2000.
In the last election, 34 percent and 26 percent of the votes in Changhua County went to Soong and Lien respectively, with Chen getting 40 percent of the votes. This year, 48 percent of its votes went to the pan-blue camp, with 52.26 percent voting for Chen.
"A minor injury to President Chen Shui-bian has led to a major injury to the KMT," Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
Before the voting, Wang Yeh-lih (王業立), chairman of Tunghai University's department of political science, discussed the situation in Taichung.
"The battle in Taichung is a close one. It's just going to depend on the ability of each camp to mobilize voters, and the KMT has traditionally had more success with that in central Taiwan. Still, the pan-green camp started campaigning in the central area very early this time," Wang said.
Chen's promise to build a science park in central Taiwan, which is seen as providing possible economic benefits to the region, was credited with drawing in new DPP voters.
In Taichung City and in Nantou, Chen was able to close the gap that had existed between the pan-blue and pan-green camps. In Taichung City, where 63 percent of voters went pan-blue and 37 percent voted pan-green in 2000, 52.66 percent voted for Lien and 47 percent for Chen this year.
Similarly, in Nantou County, 65 percent of the vote went to the pan-blue camp in 2000 and 34 percent to the pan-green camp. This year, 51 percent voted pan-blue and 49 percent voted pan-green.
DPP legislative caucus leader Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said before the voting that reconstruction efforts after the 921 earthquake in 1999 were the primary factor that Nantou residents would vote on.
In the eastern region, covering Hualien and Taitung, the pan-blue camp won the majority of votes yesterday, as was the case four years ago.
Huang Hsien-tung (黃憲東), spokesman for the DPP's Hualien County campaign headquarters, said before the voting that highway construction might have a large effect on this year's voting.
"Hualien has traditionally voted for the KMT. The debate over whether to continue construction on the Suao-Hualien Expressway has affected the vote," Huang said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS