Former Legislator Cheng Li-wun elected KMT chair

Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Former Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) was elected chairperson of Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Saturday, defeating five other candidates, including her main competitor, two-time Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌).

As of 7:12 p.m., Cheng had gained 60,063 votes, or 51.35 percent of the total, while Hau was trailing at 34.41 percent with 40,241 votes, according to figures provided by the KMT.

The race used a plurality (first-past-the-post) system, under which the top vote-getter won without needing an absolute majority.

As of 7:12 p.m., turnout was 35.54 percent of the 331,145 eligible party members, with polling stations set up around Taiwan, according to the KMT.

The other four candidates, Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), former Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), former National Assembly member Tsai Chih-hung (蔡志弘), and Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), president of the NGO Sun Yat-sen School, took 10.51 percent, 1.56 percent, 0.20 percent, and 1.97 percent, in that order.

Cheng, 55, was a legislator from 2008 to 2012 and again from 2020 to 2024, and served as Executive Yuan spokesperson from 2012 to 2014 during the KMT administration of then-President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

It was her first run for the top KMT post, and her victory Saturday made her the second woman to be elected party chairperson, following Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who served from 2016 to 2017.

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Cheng entered politics as a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) but left in 2002, before joining the KMT in 2005.

Cheng is slated to succeed incumbent chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Nov. 1, beginning a four-year term.

The election was marred by controversy over short videos posted on social media platforms that appeared to attack Hau, leading him to accuse "foreign internet forces" of spreading false content to smear him in an Oct. 9 Facebook post, which many felt was alluding to China.