Ann Kao (高虹安) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) was yesterday elected mayor of Hsinchu, defeating the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Lin Ken-jeng (林耕仁).
Kao, 38, declared victory at about 7:30pm. She is to become the first female mayor of Hsinchu and the youngest mayor or county commissioner ever elected in Taiwan.
Shen, who trailed Kao by 10,000 votes, conceded defeat before the final results were confirmed and congratulated Kao on her win.
Photo: CNA
Although the race was expected to be close, Lin lagged behind the other two candidates by a large margin as results began coming in after 4pm and conceded defeat.
In her victory speech, Kao thanked her parents, relatives, friends, supporters, campaign team and volunteers, as well as her opponents, who she said “proposed many good political platforms during the campaign and showed good sportsmanship.”
Calling her win “a victory for all Hsinchu residents and democracy,” she vowed to form a team based on merit and not political ideology, and to build Hsinchu into a city that makes people “feel happy and proud.”
She also said she would consider her opponents policy proposals and ask for their advice after taking office to ensure Hsinchu residents are prioritized under her leadership, she said.
Kao’s victory put the TPP in charge of a city that was governed by the KMT from 2005 to 2014 before the DPP took power, holding the office under former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), who resigned in July to contest the Taoyuan mayoral election.
Lin Chih-chien withdrew from that race after National Taiwan University revoked his master’s degree over charges of plagiarism in August.
Lin Chih-chien defeated his KMT opponent, former Hsinchu mayor Hsu Ming-tsai (許明財), in 2014 and won re-election in 2018 by a large margin over the same opponent, by 49.57 percent of the votes and 27.87 percent respectively.
The Hsinchu mayor’s office is a major win for the TPP, which was founded in 2019 and participated in local elections for the first time this year.
With a background in computer science and information engineering, Kao has worked at the Institute for Information Industry and Foxconn Technology Group’s Industrial Big Data Office.
As a legislator, she attracted attention for her proficiency in data analysis.
Her candidacy went through a rough campaign after she was accused of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis and of collecting a corporate salary while working at a government-affiliated institute.
She was on Thursday last week listed as a suspect in case after being accused by former assistants of making illegal payroll deductions and using public funds for personal gain, although her campaign spokeswoman, Hsu Chien-ching (徐千晴), said that being named was a “normal procedure when a case is launched by prosecutors.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the
RSS