Voters go to 3-in-1 elections in 17 counties, cities today

The “three-in-one” elections will exclude the administrations in Taipei City and Kaohsiung City, both of which enjoy the special municipality status.

No elections will be held in Taipei County, Kaohsiung County, Taichung City, Taichung County, Tainan City, and Tainan County either because they will be upgraded or merged into special municipalities. Local elections in these areas will be held next year after they gain the new status currently enjoyed by Taipei and Kaohsiung cities.

In today's elections covering 17 counties and cities, a total of 54 candidates are running for the positions as county magistrate and city mayors in the urban areas.

Eighteen of the candidates in this category are nominees by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), 14 nominated by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and one by the minor Hakka Party.

The other candidates are independent runners and those who broke away from the KMT after failing to win their nominations in the primaries held by the party.

The frontline Kinmen County, which is just a few miles away from China, has the biggest field of seven candidates running for the post of magistrate. Outgoing Magistrate Lee Chu-feng belongs to the New Party, an ally of the KMT.

According to officials at the Cabinet-level Central Election Commission (CEC), 935 candidates are vying for 592 seats up for grabs in city and county councils while 470 people are fighting for chief posts at 211 townships in the rural regions.

CEC statistics put the number of eligible voters in the county magistrate and mayoral elections at over 7.05 million, with 7.03 million eligible voters in the elections for city and county councilors, and 6.23 million for the township chief elections.

A total of 6,384 polling stations will be manned by 81,926 people, mostly school teachers and government employees.

They will be augmented by 60,000 police officers to ensure the smooth progress for voters to cast their ballots and vote counting.

Elections are normally held between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. in Taiwan, but the CEC extended the hours to 5 p.m. in view of the three different types of local elections this year.

CEC officials estimated the turnout of voters will reach between 60 and 65 percent as in the past.

KMT Vice Chairman Chan Chun-po forecast a turnout rate of around 68 percent as there will be generally fair weather around the island except in eastern Taiwan.

The completion of all vote counting operations in various regions can be delayed to 10 p.m., said CEC officials.

Of the 17 counties and cities, the ruling KMT controls the majority of 10 magistrates and three mayors while the DPP holds three seats of magistrates, and the New Party has the Kinmen County after the previous local elections.

The KMT also dominates the grassroots politics with grips on the seats of most township chiefs in the rural areas.

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