After a ballot count that lasted nearly 10 hours, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je was confirmed as the winner — by a small margin — of the Taipei mayoral election at 2:35am yesterday.
Ko was re-elected for a second term after receiving 580,820 votes, beating Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ting Shou-chung’s (丁守中) 577,566 by 3,254.
Polling stations finished counting at 2:35am and at 2:40am Ko was on stage at Four Four South Village in Xinyi District (信義), where his supporters had been waiting for hours.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Supporters shouted: “Taipei chose Ko!”
Ko responded: “I am back.”
“I have nothing but gratitude,” Ko told a news conference at 3:20am.
“I was without support from any political party or corporation. All I had was the support of members of the public,” he said.
“It is because of you that there is now an opportunity for Taiwan’s political scene to be something different. You are the makers of Taiwan’s history,” he told supporters.
The election has established reform as the way forward for politics, he said.
“Change has happened and there is no going back from reforms now,” he said.
He called the result “a victory of democracy” and thanked voters for supporting a new political culture based on pragmatism, communication, public transparency and a more disciplined approach to government finances.
If change can happen in Taipei, it can happen elsewhere, he said.
He thanked his opponents for their constructive criticism and said he would hold himself to higher standards.
He also thanked his campaign team — which he said was “the youngest in history.”
“We are a team. Regardless of where you are heading, this memory ... would will always be with you, along with my gratitude and sincere wishes,” he said.
He then called for solidarity across generations and party lines, saying: “With the election over, I sincerely hope that all prejudices would also come to an end, regardless of who you support and which generation you belong to.”
Asked whether he would complete his second term or run for president in 2020, Ko said his answer has not changed after a year of being asked the question.
“There is no such plan. Why does the rumor keep spreading?” he said.
When asked if he would amend his relationship with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) following its defeats in the nine-in-one elections, Ko said his relationship with the party has seen “little change” in four years.
In the five-way race, Pasuya Yao (姚文智) of the DPP received 244,641 votes, independent Li Hsi-kun (李錫錕) got 6,172 votes and independent Wu E-yang (吳萼洋) got 5,617 votes.
Additional reporting by Huang Chien-hao
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by