Politics

Chiang descendant elected to Legislature

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Despite the dozens of Kuomintang candidates who

Chiang descendant elected to Legislature

were swept away by a Democratic Progressive Party landslide Saturday, one of the rare winners for the “blue” camp was a descendant of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

Wayne Chiang won the election district covering the Songshan and Zhongshan areas of Taipei City after first defeating high-profile lawmaker Lo Shu-lei in the primaries and then on Saturday Billy Pan, an independent candidate backed by the DPP and known for his close ties to Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je.

The victory came despite an overall disastrous election day for the KMT, with its national total of legislators tumbling from 64 to 35. In Taipei City, the KMT was left with five out of eight seats, with veterans Ting Shou-chung and Lin Yu-fang falling to DPP City Councilor Rosalia Wu and New Power Party rock star Freddy Lim respectively.

Chiang is a great-grandson of President Chiang Kai-shek, a grandson of President Chiang Ching-kuo and the son of former Foreign Minister John Chiang. John Chiang and a twin brother were born out of wedlock to Chiang Ching-kuo and a woman surnamed Chang in China. They originally took her surname, but changed their names to Chiang in 2005. [FULL STORY]

Governing train to leave station in 3 days: Tsai

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

PEI (Taiwan News) – At her first appearance since election day, President-elect Tsai Ing-wen said Sunday that the “government train” would leave the station three days from now because her party workers needed a break first.

The Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman not only received more than 56 percent of the vote Saturday, but her party also for the first time won an absolute majority of seats at the Legislative Yuan, which is expected to make governing much easier for her after she is sworn in on May 20.

Tsai attended a private lunch in Taipei City Sunday, where she reportedly said that she was giving her campaign and party headquarters employees three days off to recover from the ordeal. After three days, the train preparing for government would start moving out of the station, Tsai reportedly said.

The lunch was reportedly attended by a number of Taiwanese who had returned from the United States to vote. Two of her sisters who reportedly live in the US were also present, as were former Alaska Republican Senator Frank Murkowski and banker Wu Li-pei. [FULL STORY]

Voter turnout was lowest since 1996

SUBSIDIES:Five parties passed the 3.5 percentage-point threshold and stand to receive NT$50 per vote annually over the next four years, the electoral commission said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 18, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Voter turnout for Saturday’s presidential election was the lowest of the six

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Hsinchu City Councilor and legislative candidate Cheng Cheng-chien, center, waves from a car during a motorcade yesterday to thank voters after he lost his election bid. Photo: CNA

direct presidential elections since 1996, data compiled by the Central Election Commission showed.

Voter turnout in the election was 66.27 percent, compared with 76.04 percent in 1996, 82.7 percent in 2000, 80.28 percent in 2004, 76.33 percent in 2008 and 74.38 percent in 2012, the commission said.

The figures were released alongside the commission’s announcement late on Saturday that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had won the election.

Tsai and her running mate, Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), received 6.89 million votes, or 56.12 percent of total valid votes, commission Chairman Liu Yi-chou (劉義周) said.

Tsai defeated Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫), who garnered 31.04 percent of the total vote, and People First Party (PFP) candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), who received 12.84 percent of the vote. [FULL STORY]

KMT faces leadership struggle

Huang Min-hui ad interim chairperson from Monday: reports

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Central Standing Committee of the ruling

KMT faces leadership struggle

Kuomintang was scheduled to meet Monday to pave the way for a new party leader.

Chairman Eric Liluan Chu announced his imminent resignation Saturday evening as it became clear that he had not only lost the presidential election, but that the KMT was also dealt a major blow at the 113-seat Legislative Yuan, tumbling from 64 to 35 seats. In his wake, Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin also resigned as he lost a bid to win a legislative seat in Keelung.

Monday’s CSC meeting was to be chaired by the other remaining vice chairperson, former Chiayi City Mayor Huang Min-hui. She could immediately be appointed as an interim party leader until new chairmanship elections take place within three months, reports said. [FULL STORY]

New faces to enter Taiwan’s Legislature as young generation rises

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/01/17
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) Many new faces were elected Saturday to Taiwan’s

New Power Party’s Freddy Lim (left) and Huang Kuo-chang.

113-seat Legislature, some of them first-time candidates that beat veteran legislators, as voters in those constituencies pinned their hopes on a younger generation.

One of the noteworthy developments was the performance of the New Power Party (NPP), which emerged after the 2014 Sunflower Movement and managed to win five legislative seats Saturday. It will be the third largest party in the Legislature after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which won 68 seats, and the Kuomintang with 35.

When the new Legislature opens in February, NPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) will be one of the first-time candidates taking a seat. Huang, 42, defeated veteran KMT incumbent lawmaker Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) in a constituency in New Taipei. [FULL STORY]

Tsai’s unexpected political journey

METAMORPHOSIS:Once an aloof academic lacking public flair, Tsai Ing-wen has transformed into a dynamic leader, carrying her party to victory with cultivated poise

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 18, 2016
By: Chen Hui-ping and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday led the Democratic

Democratic Progressive Party supporters shine lights from their mobile devices as they celebrate election results during a rally in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: Bloomberg

Progressive Party (DPP) to a landslide victory and became the nation’s first female president.
A professor of law with a doctoral degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Tsai, born in 1956, entered the limelight in 1998 as a member of a delegation that negotiated terms for the nations accession to the WTO, making a reputation for herself as a technocrat with level-headedness at the negotiation table.

In 2000, the DPP’s Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was elected president and Tsai was named Mainland Affairs Council minister. She carried multiple diplomatic duties, including ongoing WTO negotiations. [FULL STORY]

Tsai Ing-wen elected Taiwan’s first female president

BBC News
January 16, 2016

Tsai Ing-wen has been elected Taiwan’s first female president.

Ms Tsai, 59, leads the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that wants independence from China.

In her victory speech, she vowed to preserve the status quo in relations with China, adding Beijing must respect Taiwan’s democracy and both sides must ensure there are no provocations.

China sees the island as a breakaway province – which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.

In her speech, Ms Tsai hailed a “new era” in Taiwan and pledged to co-operate with other political parties on major issues.

The will of the Taiwanese people would be the basis for relations with China, Ms Tsai said. [FULL STORY]

Taiwan Election: Tsai promises reform and cooperation

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-16
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen promised reform, cooperation and stability as she was elected Taiwan’s first woman president Saturday with the highest percentage any candidate ever had.
At the same time, she can also look forward to the first-ever absolute majority the DPP has ever held at the 113-seat Legislative Yuan. While final results will still need some time to calculate, the DPP could hold a total of 68 seats.

According to official results, Tsai had won about 6.87 million votes or 56.15 percent, Kuomintang Chairman Eric Liluan Chu received 3.79 million votes or 31.01 percent, and People First Party Chairman James Soong 1.57 million votes or 12.82 percent of the vote.

At her international news conference Saturday evening, she emphasized the common values of democracy. “In 2016, through democratic elections, we showed the whole world that we are proud of being a democratic country.” The president-elect said she would work on a framework to discuss national issues with other parties. [FULL STORY]

Turnout in presidential race lowest in history

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/01/17
By: Tai Ya-chen, Chen Chun-hua and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) The turnout in Taiwan’s presidential election was the lowest ever in the six direct presidential elections the country has held since 1996, according to data compiled by the Central Election Committee (CEC).

The CEC said turnout in Saturday’s presidential vote was 66.27 percent, compared with 76.04 percent in 1996, 82.7 percent in 2000, 80.28 percent in 2004, 76.33 percent in 2008, and 74.38 percent in 2012.

The turnout figures were part of the CEC’s formal announcement late Saturday that Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the chairwoman and candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, 民進黨) was elected president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the vote held the same day.

CEC Chairman Liu Yi-chou (劉義周) said Tsai and her running mate — Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) — won 6.89 million votes or 56.12 percent of the total valid votes cast.

It was a victory that had been widely anticipated for months, which may have been one of the factors contributing to the low turnout. [FULL STORY]

ELECTIONS: Soong concedes third defeat, congratulates Tsai

MIXED FEELINGS:PFP supporters appeared ambivalent, with some speaking of their disappointment with Taiwanese politics and others saying that they still have hopes for the future of the nation

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 17, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜)

People First Party presidential candidate James Soong casts a ballot yesterday in New Taipei City’s Linkou District. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

yesterday thanked supporters as he conceded defeat and congratulated the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her victory.

Asked if the PFP would work with other parties in the legislature, Soong said that it had not ruled out the possibility, but it is not likely to form a partnership with either the DPP or the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

“The party will focus on the welfare of the people rather than concentrate on forming an alliance with any party,” he said.

“I have to reiterate here that we will not make the orange [the PFP’s color] green again and nor would we work with a party espousing rotten policies,” he added.
Yesterday’s loss was Soong’s third defeat in a presidential election. He first ran as an independent in 2000 after failing to obtain the KMT’s nomination. [FULL STORY]

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