Posted on 11/26/2022 6:23:57 PM PST by FarCenter
BLUE WAVE: The KMT’s Chiang Wan-an defeated the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung and is to become Taipei mayor, while President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as DPP chairperson after many of the party’s candidates, handpicked by the leadership, performed poorly
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday flipped key mayoral seats in Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won control of 13 out of 22 cities and counties in the nine-in-one local elections.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson over a poor showing by the party’s candidates, who were handpicked by the DPP leadership rather than chosen through primaries.
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) won its first high-profile race with Hsinchu mayoral candidate Ann Kao (高虹安) defeating Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) of the DPP with 45.02 percent of the vote to Shen’s 35.68 percent.
Voters were choosing more than 11,000 local government positions, including the top posts in 21 of the nation’s 22 cities and counties.
The Chiayi mayoral election was postponed to Dec. 18 after a candidate passed away on Nov. 2.
The KMT posted a strong showing.
Although the KMT is to govern only 13 cities and counties, compared with the 14 it currently holds, it is expected to win in Chiayi City next month, while the offices it lost are in smaller constituencies, in Miaoli, Kinmen and Penghu counties.
Its incumbent mayoral candidate in New Taipei City, Hou You-yi (侯友宜), won by a decisive 27.8 percentage points, boosting his chances for a likely run at the presidency in 2024.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) at party headquarters in Taipei last night declared victory “for Taiwan’s democracy.”
Taiwan is preparing for war.
Having a prime minister whose given name translates to “Written English” kinda hurts your credibility . . . for starters.
Make that “president”.
Taiwan’s Tsai quits as party leader after heavy local election losses
TAIPEI — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as leader of her ruling party after the opposition Kuomintang retook its traditional strongholds in local elections held on Saturday.
She will remain Taiwan’s president until her second term expires in early 2024. It has been a poor election night for her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which was facing a difficult electoral cycle as the party’s term-limited incumbents stepped down. Premier Su Tseng-chang also offered to resign but was retained by Tsai.
“The election results were not as expected... I ought to shoulder all the responsibility and I’m resigning as DPP chairwoman immediately,” Tsai told journalists.
Tsai’s DPP took five mayoral and county chief seats out of the 21 up for grabs, down from seven in the 2018 polls, and was wiped out in the northern half of Taiwan.
Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) retook mayoral seats in its traditional urban strongholds Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won a string of other victories. The party won 13 local government seats, one down from before. But winning Taipei and Taoyuan, two key mayoral races, overshadowed losses in Penghu, Kinmen and Miaoli counties.
Around 19.13 million people — over 82% of the population — were eligible to cast ballots, choosing their preferred candidates for more than 11,000 positions at all levels of local government.
Chiang Wan-an, who is the great-grandson of late KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek, won the race for mayor in the capital after the DPP conceded defeat.
China says Taiwan election result shows people want peace
Chen Shih-chung, DPP candidate and former health czar, said he hoped his supporters wished Chiang the best. “I sincerely urge everyone, like me, to unite and become a [constructive] force for Taipei, our beloved hometown,” he told supporters at a post-election rally.
Chiang’s success in KMT-leaning Taipei is not a surprise and was in line with predictions that the opposition would win big. Party Chairman Eric Chu last year promised the KMT would “win 16 counties and cities, and win more than half of the six municipalities,” and pledged to step down if it failed to do so.
“This is not only a victory for the Kuomintang. It is, most importantly, a victory for the people of Taiwan, a victory for Taiwan’s democracy, and a victory for all non-green camps,” Chu said in a televised speech marking the electoral outcome, referring to the color green which is mostly associated with the DPP and other parties skeptical of China. Chu accused Tsai of prioritizing her party above the country and called on her to “come back and be [Taiwan’s] president.”
The weird thing is the KMT is the traditional mortal enemy of the CCP and being rightwing and traditionalist are ideologically further away from the communists. Yet over time they’ve drifted toward being considered the more proCCP party.
What the USA needs to have.
Many KMT leaders are from families that left China after WW II and the Revolution in ‘49.
They have closer family and cultural ties with mainland China than the main Taiwanese population which descend from immigrants prior to 1896 and the Japanese occupation. Those immigrants were also mainly from the ethnic groups of the adjacent southeast China coastal provinces.
They’re Quislings Chiang Kai-shek would have executed.
This may contribute slightly, toward stability across the straight.
The DPP is more the party which semewhat favors independence. The KMT is more militant, but at least when I was paying attention, were much less pro-independence.
I think. :) Haven’t been paying much attention recently, but I think so, anyway.
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