Kuomintang wins 6 chief seats in Taiwan election
Print Edition
THE Kuomintang Party won six county and city chief seats in Taiwan’s biggest-ever local elections yesterday, while the opposition Democratic Progressive Party landed 13 seats, according to the island’s electoral authorities.
The other three seats of the island’s 22 county and city chiefs were picked up by independent candidates.
The polls, known as “nine-in-one elections,” to select 11,130 holders for nine types of public office — from municipal mayors to county chiefs, city councilors and village leaders — were held from 8am to 4pm.
About 18 million people were eligible to vote in the elections, which were the biggest in history in terms of candidates and open positions. It is the first time Taiwan residents have voted to elect officials for local government and legislative positions simultaneously.
Taiwan’s chief administrator Jiang Yi-huah announced his resignation after the results made it clear that the ruling KMT had suffered a defeat.
Speaking at a press conference last night, Jiang said the results showed the public’s discontent with the government’s administration and that he took responsibility for that.
He said also that he hopes Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou can appoint a new chief administrator as soon as possible to face up to the challenges.
Independent candidate Ko Wen-je took the KMT’s traditional stronghold of Taipei, with his rival Sean Lien tearfully declaring defeat ahead of the official result.
“I am very sorry that I didn’t meet everybody’s expectations. This is my personal responsibility and it’s because I didn’t work hard enough,” Lien told his supporters.
Incumbent KMT mayor Jason Hu in the party’s other key stronghold of Taichung also conceded a loss to the DPP’s Lin Chia-lung.
The DPP declared a surprise victory in Taoyuan and held its seats in Tainan and Kaohsiun.
About 60,000 police officers were mobilized for the vote, authorities said.
Taiwan has experienced sporadic election violence, with two high-profile shootings at election-eve campaign events in recent years.
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said after the poll: “We have noticed the results of the election. “We hope compatriots across the Strait will cherish the hard-won fruits of cross-Strait relations, and jointly safeguard and continue to push forward peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
