More setbacks for KMT in by-election defeats

KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung conceded defeat while his DPP counterpart, Su Chia-chuan, said the results were a demonstration of voters' trust in the opposition party.

The DPP triumphed in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Chiayi, but the KMT prevailed in Hualien.

It is the third election setback for the ruling party since December, sounding an alarm for the KMT and giving a boost to the DPP ahead of the crucial races in five special municipalities at the end of the year.

In an earlier round of by-elections for three seats last month, the DPP took all of them. The opposition party also gained in December's local government chief elections.

Following its latest victory, the DPP will see its seats in the 113-seat Legislature grow to 33, compared to 75 for the KMT, and five for independents.

DPP candidate Chen Ming-wen cruised to victory in Chiayi, a traditional stronghold of the opposition party, by grabbing than 57,451 votes, more than double the support his KMT rival, Lin Teh-jui, who received 27,138 votes.

In Hsinchu — where the ruling party has a better track than the opposition — DPP candidate Perng Shaw-jiin's wide-margin victory over the KMT's Cheng Yung-tang came as a surprise.

Perng obtained 71,625 votes, compared to Cheng's 56,342.

The two parties had a tight race in Taoyuan and Hualien.

DPP hopeful Huang Jen-shu cashed in on KMT division by garnering a slim majority of 45,363 votes in Taoyuan, just less than 3,000 more than its KMT contender, Chen Shei-saint who got 42,600 ballots, who two other candidates who broke away from the KMT took a combined 8,000 votes.

KMT nominee Wang Ting-sheng took over 39,379 votes, defeating his DPP competitor, former lawmaker Hsiao Bi-khim, by more than 6,000 votes.

The KMT took some comfort in winning in the eastern county, where a former party member, maverick Fu Kun-chi, gave the party a humiliating defeat in last December's magistrate election.

But the Fu-supported independent, Shih Sheng-liang, only managed 8,863 votes in the legislative by-election in the eastern county.

The KMT secretary general, King, said the party would heed the warning from voters, but stood by the party's continuing reforms and its nomination strategy, which some critics and supporters have blamed for its recent losses.

The reform-minded President Ma Ying-jeou, who doubles as the KMT chairman, has insisted on fielding candidates with “clean images and backgrounds.”

Some of the defeated hopefuls over the past three months were little known scholars with little political experience, turning its back on local heavyweights, such as the Hualien magistrate.

The KMT nominated these “clean” candidates believing that they would help reform the party and in general the country's political culture — which is known for its corruption, vote-buying and control by local factions.

But King denied that the KMT was bent on nominating “clean scholars,” saying its candidate in Taoyuan — Chen, who has served in the Legislature and the Taipei City Council — is a veteran in politics.

He noted that its victory in Hualien proved that such little known scholars could still win. Its winner there is an associate professor at National Dong Hwa University in the eastern county.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen was glad with the bagging of three seats, but lamented the loss in Hualien, according to the party's secretary general, Su.

The DPP winner in Taoyuan, Huang, is a member of the county council.

In Hsinchu, the winner Perng is a former prosecutor at the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office and served as a legislator between 1996 and 2002, and again from 2005 to 2008.

In Chiayi, Chen is a veteran DPP heavyweight who formerly headed the county government for eight years until last December.

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