New local government heads and councilors sworn in

2014-12-27

All 11,108 elected officials in the Nov. 29 local government elections took office Dec. 25 nationwide, turning a new page in the ROC’s political history.

In a ceremony witnessed by Vice Premier Chang San-cheng, Ko Wen-je succeeded Hau Lung-bin as Taipei City mayor. During his inauguration speech, Ko said his vision is to transform Taipei into a cultural city and just society that promotes compassion, health, safety and sharing through community building and transparent policymaking.

“In the next 100 days, Taipei City residents will witness the metropolis’s progress every day,” he said. “As we build the future for the younger generation, our efforts in the following four years will transform Taipei into a great city in 50 years.” The new mayor also hopes to strengthen collaboration with Keelung, New Taipei and Taoyuan.

That same day further south, Cheng Wen-tsan became the first mayor of Taoyuan City following the former county’s upgrade to special municipality, joining the ranks of five other cities with the same status.

With a population of 2.06 million aged 37 years old on average, Taoyuan boasts the youngest population in Taiwan and the highest industrial output at NT$3.06 trillion (US$96.37 billion).

Replacing Jason Hu as Taichung mayor, Lin Chia-lung pledged to lead an agile government and make the city the top choice for domestic migration through improved infrastructure and social welfare programs.

“Taichung is a city of opportunities,” Lin said. “Through joint efforts with the neighboring counties of Changhua and Nantou, Taichung can become an engine driving cultural, economic and industrial development in central Taiwan.”

Other new local government chiefs installed the same day include Keelung City Mayor Lin Yu-chang, Miaoli County Magistrate Hsu Yao-chang and Changhua County Magistrate Wei Ming-ku.

New Taipei City, Tainan City and Kaohsiung City will remain under the leadership of incumbents Eric Chu, Lai Ching-te and Chen Chu, respectively.

Despite the setback in the mayoral and magistrate elections, the ruling Kuomintang performed exceedingly well in the city and county council speaker elections with 17 seats. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party won 3 spots, while independents took 2.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=225613&CtNode=413)