KMT picks Yen Kuan-heng to run in Taichung legislative by-election

Former lawmaker Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) was named Tuesday as the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT’s) candidate in the legislative by-election scheduled for Jan. 9 next year in Taichung’s second electoral district.

Yen was elected in 2013 to the Legislature in a by-election in the same district to replace his father Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, who was sentenced to prison in November 2012 and expelled from the Legislature.

Yen Kuan-heng won a second term in the 2016 legislative election, but in 2020 he lost the seat by a small margin of 5,000 votes to Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟), who became the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s only elected lawmaker.

Chen, 36, was ousted, however, in a recall election on Oct. 23 by just under 5,000 votes, in a 77,899 to 73,433 ballot count, leaving the seat vacant.

Yen Kuan-heng’s candidacy for next year’s by-election was announced Tuesday by KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) at Yen’s campaign office in Taichung, where city Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) and KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) were also present.

Yen will come up against former lawmaker Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), who was named on Nov. 3 as the candidate for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in the upcoming by-election.

Lin was elected as legislator-at-large in 2016, and her term ended in 2020.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel