Former Health Minster Defeated in KMT Primary in Hualien County

Former Health Minster Defeated in KMT Primary in Hualien County

Source: All Taipei newspapers
September 1, 2009

The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) on Monday announced the result of a primary to determine its official candidate in the year-end executive election of eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County. In the poll-based primary, former Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan, who won the support of 45.524% of those polled in the county, was defeated by 9 percentage points by Tu Li-hua, a county government councilor, who received the support of 54.476% of those voters polled. [Editor’s note: A primary held by the KMT is usually determined from both party member votes (weighed at 30%) and public opinion polls (weighed at 70%). The party member votes, however, were excluded from the primary in Hualien this time.]

According to KMT primary regulations, the Central Standing Committee (CSC) will nominate Tu Li-hua for the Hualien County Executive election on the KMT ticket in the weekly CSC meeting on Wednesday, September 2.

On the other hand, Yeh Ching-chuan, who had resigned as Health Minister earlier in August to run in the primary, conceded defeat. Yeh said that he was grateful to the many voters for their support and that he would not return to the cabinet, but instead remain in Hualien. He promised that he would do his utmost to help the county government or assist in the epidemic prevention efforts (against H1N1) as long as there was anything he could do to help. He also wished Tu Li-hua all the best in her up-coming campaign.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), by contrast, has reportedly not yet determined its candidate for the executive election of Hualien County, which is one of the most strongly pro-KMT districts in Taiwan. The chief of the DPP Chapter in Hualien County said that seeking a candidate from Hualien was still a top priority for the party but the DPP would not rule out the possibility of cooperating with non-partisan figures.

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