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
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and