《TAIPEI TIMES》DPP picks Cho Jung-tai as new party chairman

By Yang Chun-hui / Staff Reporter, with CNA

Cabinet Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai （卓榮泰） was yesterday elected Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） chairman in a two-way race, DPP Acting Chairman Lin Yu-chang （林右昌） said.

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Lin made the announcement at 6:40pm at a news conference at the DPP headquarters in Taipei, saying that Cho would be sworn in on Wednesday.

The by-election was held to fill the vacancy left by President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） after she resigned as party chairperson on Nov. 24 to take responsibility for the DPP’s losses in the local elections.

The other candidate was Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation chairman Michael You （游盈隆）.

Voting took place from 9am to 5pm, with about 200,000 party members eligible to cast ballots at 117 polling stations nationwide.

A total of 34,230 votes were cast, representing a turnout of 16.9 percent, the party said.

Cho garnered 24,699 votes, or 72.6 percent of the total votes cast, while You received 9,323 votes, or 27.4 percent, it added.

Cho, who served in several government posts and was a lawmaker from 1999 to 2004, was backed by a group of mayors, county commissioners and legislators comprised mostly of middle-aged party members.

You, who served as the deputy head of the Mainland Affairs Council and secretary-general of the Straits Exchange Foundation during former president Chen Shui-bian’s （陳水扁） time in office from 2000 to 2008, was mainly backed by a group opposed to Tsai.

Cho is considered to be a protege of Tsai and his position on various issues are expected to be closely aligned with the president’s.

His term is to end on May 19 next year.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES