Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Hau Lung-bin's (郝龍斌) victory on Saturday sparked speculation over whether he would take over Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration or bring in his own staff.
Following his victory over Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh (
"We are establishing a hand-over team today to prepare for the personnel of the new administration. But so far, we haven't discussed the issue yet. One of the key figures to discuss the issue with is, of course, Mayor Ma," Hau said.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hau said the hand-over team will be convened by him, and his campaign office director Samuel Wu (吳秀光) will be responsible for drawing up the list of potential administration members and discussing the issue with the nominees.
Although Hau stressed that "talent would be the sole standard" for his new team, many of Ma's department heads are expected to retain their posts, according to sources in Hau's camp, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
With Hau promising to use Taipei as a base from which to push for a KMT victory in the 2008 presidential election, he will retain the heads in key municipal departments, including civil affairs, social welfare, labor and education departments, or at least seek Ma's opinions before making a reshuffle, sources said.
Lee Sush-der(
Within Hau's camp, Wu, a former director of the department of civil affairs in Ma's administration, is expected to play an important role in the new administration. On the other hand, KMT Central Standing Committee Lien Sheng-wen (
Hau declined to confirm the speculation yesterday, but lauded Lien Chen-wen's capabilities.
"He is a capable talent. During the campaigning period, I think everyone got a chance to see his creativity and energy. I was very impressed by his ability," Hau said.
As for Ma, who will leave his post as mayor to concentrate on his position as KMT chairman, it appears likely that he will also reshuffle some of the key KMT positions.
These include the chairman's office director and the director of the party's culture and communication committee.
It also appear that he will arrange for some of his own aides in the city government, such as Taipei Deputy Mayor King Pu-tsung (
Ma is scheduled to resign from office on Dec. 19 and the new administration may be announced as soon as Dec. 25.
Meanwhile, in view of supporters' call for him to run in 2008 presidential election, Hsieh yesterday said that "the DPP lacks no one to run for president."
To discuss the 2008 presidential election issue at this time only serves to hurt the DPP's supporters again, he said.
Hsieh's defeat on Saturday was regarded as an "honorable defeat" by pan-greens, as he managed to narrow the percentage-point margin between the DPP and the KMT.
He lost to Hau by a 12.92 percentage point margin. In 2002, the DPP's candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) lost to Ma by a 28 percentage point margin.
Additional reporting by Staff Writer
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS