Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) declared victory in the legislative by-election in Taipei yesterday, beating main rival Enoch Wu (吳怡農) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Wang, a veteran Taipei city councilor, declared her win at about 5:20pm, 80 minutes after the polls closed.
The KMT candidate was the favorite heading into yesterday’s election, with pre-election polls in the capital’s third electoral district putting the 58-year-old former journalist well ahead of Wu.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The electoral area covers Zhongshan District (中山) and northern Songshan District (松山), which was left vacant after Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the KMT was elected Taipei mayor in November last year.
Wang was first elected to the Taipei City Council as a member of the unification-leaning New Party in 2006 before switching to the KMT in 2013, and was re-elected in November last year.
She was originally reluctant to run in the by-election, but made an about-face after several KMT heavyweights urged her to run.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Wang later apologized to her constituents, saying her decision to accept the party’s nomination came after much contemplation, that she understood the importance of the legislative seat for the KMT and was willing to take on the difficult task.
Yesterday’s defeat is the second in the same electoral district for Wu, following a 6 percentage point defeat to Chiang in 2020.
The Central Election Commission announced Wang’s victory in a statement, and published data showing that she received 60,519 votes, or 52.26 percent of the total, with Wu receiving 54,739 votes, or 47.27 percent.
Independent candidate Hsiao He-lin (蕭赫麟) was in third place with 542 votes, or 0.47 percent, the data showed.
The election had a relatively low turnout of 43.35 percent, the statement said.
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Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
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