Kang Shih-ju wins in Miaoli County-1

Last Saturday, Kang Shih-ju (康世儒) beat Chen Luan-ying (陳鑾英), the wife of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Lee E-tin (李乙廷), in a by-election for the legislative seat of Miaoli County-1.

The victory is especially important for three reasons. First, Miaoli-1 is a KMT stronghold, and the signal being sent from the voters there is it actually does matter if the KMT tries to run vote buyers or their family.

Second, Kang will caucus with (but not join) the DPP, which is key because the DPP is exactly one seat short of the 1/4 seats required to raise legislation. Now, the DPP will have a chance to raise their own bill, though they will never get out of committee.

Finally, this win reinforces that legislative elections are all about local factions. Kang was the chief of Zhunan Township (竹南), and it was key to his victory

Kang failed to win the KMT’s nomination for the legislative election last year and left the party after it again passed him over for the by-election, choosing Chen instead....

Chen was leading yesterday before votes in Zhunan Township were counted.

Kang won 19,000 votes to Chen’s 6,200 votes in the township, securing the victory.