Yilan County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) was reelected after defeating main rival Chiang Tsung-yuan (江聰淵) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the race to head the county on Saturday.
Lin declared victory at around 8 p.m., after Chiang conceded defeat.
Lin finished with 119,421 votes, or 50.76 percent of the total, with Chiang receiving 96,779 votes, or 41.31 percent, according to figures from the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Chen Wan-hui (陳琬惠) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), meanwhile, garnered 16,412 votes, or 6.98 percent.
Lin was reelected despite being dogged by corruption charges for her alleged role in a series of questionable land tax exemptions and land deals. Her first court hearing took place on Oct. 31, during which she continued to claim her innocence.
The 70-year-old Lin, who was first elected in 2018 amid a groundswell of anti-DPP sentiment around Taiwan, has said the charges were politically motivated, and her victory may indicate that voters either agreed or did not care.
Lin thanked several KMT party members for standing up and supporting her on the campaign trail.
In her first four years in office, the incumbent magistrate proved popular with female voters, as she focused heavily on policies related to education, such as providing free school meals for local children.
Prior to leading Taiwan’s northeastern county, Lin headed Yilan’s Luodong Township and before that served as a local councilor from 1998 to 2010.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel