Lawmaker Hsu Hsin-ying wins KMT nomination for Hsinchu County magistrate

Taipei, March 28 (CNA) Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) has secured the Kuomintang (KMT) nomination for the Hsinchu County magistrate race this November, the party announced Saturday following a primary vote held earlier in the day.

The KMT determined the nomination using a composite scoring system, which weights public opinion polls at 70 percent and party-member votes at 30 percent.

Although Hsu fell 685 votes short of Deputy Magistrate Chen Chien-hsien (陳見賢) in the member-only primary, her superior polling numbers from a three-day survey from Wednesday to Friday allowed her to overtake Chen in the final tally, according to the KMT.

Since 2004, Hsu, 53, has moved across Taiwan's political spectrum, from an incomplete bid to join the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union.

She subsequently served as an independent county councilor from 2006 to 2012, followed by a stint as a KMT lawmaker, both in Hsinchu County, before breaking away three years into her term to found the now-defunct Minkuotang.

In 2016, Hsu was the running mate of People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜). After another unsuccessful magisterial bid in 2018 under the Minkuotang banner and a period as an independent, she eventually returned to the KMT fold in 2022.

Hsu's political career has been notably marked by her devotion to and political cooperation with Master Miaotian, a religious leader whose history includes a 2012 conviction in a columbarium fraud case and high-profile allegations of financial impropriety.