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Kuomintang sweeps Taiwan polls

TAIPEI (TAIWAN): Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) won 81 of the 113 seats in Taiwan’s “legislature” elections on Saturday, scoring a landslide victory over the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that got 27 seats, according to local media.

Two seats went to the New Party. The People First Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and a candidate without party affiliation each took one seat.

Nearly 300 candidates competed for the legislative seats in more than 70 precincts across the island.

Voters cast two ballots for the first time in the election history — one for a specific “legislator” candidate in their precinct and the other for the party of their choice. Some “legislators” will be chosen by the parties in accordance with the percentage of votes they got.

Taiwan’s “legislature”, called “Legislative Yuan,” has been streamlined from 225 seats to 113 in an effort to improve efficiency. Meanwhile, 13 deputies to represent Taiwan at the upcoming plenary session of China’s legislature were elected on Saturday via a secret ballot. Election committee members voted at a meeting in the Great Hall of the People to elect Taiwan’s deputies to the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC), the top legislature of China.

The NPC is scheduled to convene its annual plenary session in early March. — Xinhua

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