Acting Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday won the party’s chairmanship by-election, defeating his opponent Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) by a landslide.
The by-election took place yesterday from 9am to 4pm through an online voting, and Huang’s win was announced at 4:15pm.
Huang won 8,903 votes, or 96.11 percent of the total, while Tsai garnered 360 ballots, or 3.89 percent.
Photo: CNA
The voter turnout was 47.95 percent, or 9,263 people out of the 19,320 who were eligible to vote, the party headquarters said.
Following his huge win, Huang would serve as leader of Taiwan’s second-largest opposition party until Dec. 31 next year, when the second four-year term of his predecessor, former party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), was slated to end.
Ko resigned earlier last month, as he is still being held in detention as part of an ongoing investigation into the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment corruption case.
Expressing gratitude to party members for their support, Huang promised to work hard.
Amid competition from the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Huang said he would lead the growth of the TPP to meet the expectations of Taiwanese for a grassroots political party.
He urged all TPP members to unite and help make Ko proud.
The party was founded by Ko in 2019. He at the time said the party aimed to change Taiwan’s political culture, as the ideological battle between the two major parties left the nation in a rut and led to friction over the past two decades.
Huang, a legal academic, rose to prominence through civic activism, including his participation in the 2014 Sunflower movement.
Huang later joined the New Power Party and became its first executive chairman in 2015. The following year, he was elected to the legislature.
In 2020, Huang did not seek re-election as a legislator, and started to advocate for whistle-blower protection laws. Ko in 2023 invited Huang to join the TPP, and the following year, Huang became a TPP legislator-at-large.
Before Ko resigned as TPP chairman, he endorsed Huang, giving Huang a boost within the mainstream faction of the party.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS