TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) will be the KMT candidate for Hsinchu County magistrate after she defeated her only opponent in a mixed selection system, reports said Saturday.
The selection took place by combining the result of public opinion polls determining 70% of the outcome and voting by KMT members setting the remaining 30%.
Hsinchu County Deputy Magistrate Chen Chien-hsien (陳見賢) received 56.78% of the votes of party members, while Hsu received 43.22%. However, after adding the results of opinion polls, Chen ended up with 49.366%, with Hsu winning with 50.634%, the Liberty Times reported.
An estimated 54.71% of the 9,312 registered KMT members in the county came out to cast a ballot in the primary, the local party chapter said. The turnout was not larger than on previous occasions, while the campaign featured high-profile disputes between Hsu and Chen about the selection method.
The DPP still has to name a candidate for the region, though in the KMT opinion polls conducted on March 25-27, Zhubei Mayor Cheng Chao-fang (鄭朝方) functioned as the token opponent to see which KMT candidate would perform better against him. The elections for local government leaders and council members have been scheduled for Nov. 28.
