Apollo Chen
Taiwanese journalist and politician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chen Shei-saint (Chinese: 陳學聖; pinyin: Chén Xuéshèng; born 28 September 1957), also known by his English name Apollo Chen, is a Taiwanese journalist and politician.
Chen Shei-saint | |
|---|---|
陳學聖 | |
Chen in July 2016 | |
| Member of the Legislative Yuan | |
| In office 1 February 2012 – 1 February 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Huang Jen-shu |
| Succeeded by | Lu Ming-che |
| Constituency | Taoyuan 3rd |
| In office 1 February 1999 – 31 January 2005 | |
| Constituency | Taipei 2nd |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 September 1957 Taipei, Taiwan |
| Party | Kuomintang |
| Education | National Taiwan University (BA) Tamkang University (MA) |
Education and early career
Born in Taipei, Chen graduated in 1976 from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, where he was classmates with James C. Liao and Wang Fan-sen.[1] After high school, he earned a bachelor's degree in political science from National Taiwan University, followed by a master's degree in Chinese studies from Tamkang University. He wrote for the China Daily News and China Times and was also a television anchor on Asia Television.[2]
Political career
Chen served on the Taipei City Council from 1991 to 1998.[3][4] His first stint in the Legislative Yuan began the next year and lasted until 2005. Chen was the spokesman of Lien Chan's 2000 presidential campaign.[5][6] In between legislative stints, he was the director of the Taoyuan County Cultural Affairs Bureau.[7][8][9] Chen, backed by the Kuomintang,[10] ran for the legislature again in the Taoyuan County by-election of 2010, losing to Huang Jen-shu by approximately 3,000 votes.[11][12] He returned to the legislature in 2012. In 2014, Chen was suspended from the Kuomintang for casting a vote against the Land Administration Agent Act.[13] However, the censure did not prevent him from running for reelection in 2016, which he won.[14] It was initially reported that Chen had defeated Hsu Ching-wen by 390 votes.[15][16] A recount by the Taoyuan District Court revealed that Chen had won by 389 votes.[17][18]
2016 KMT chairmanship election
His party's presidential candidate, Eric Chu, was not successful and subsequently resigned the KMT chairmanship. Chen declared his interest in the position a few days after Chu's resignation was finalized.[19][20] On 22 February, Chen submitted a petition of 24,179 signatures to the party committee responsible for overseeing elections.[21] The party confirmed 10,710 of those signatures, validating his candidacy.[22] Chen finished fourth in the election, which was won by Hung Hsiu-chu.[23]
| 2016 Kuomintang chairmanship election | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | Result | |
| 1 | Hung Hsiu-chu | Kuomintang | 78,829 | 56.16% | .svg){kind=small} | |
| 2 | Huang Min-hui | Kuomintang | 46,341 | 33.02% | ||
| 3 | Lee Hsin | Kuomintang | 7,604 | 5.42% | ||
| 4 | Apollo Chen | Kuomintang | 6,784 | 4.83% | ||
| Total votes | 337,351 | |||||
| Turnout | 41.61% | |||||
2018 Taoyuan mayor election
In March 2018, the Kuomintang announced that Chen had defeated Lu Ming-che and Yang Li-huan in a primary held to decide the party's candidate in the Taoyuan mayoral election.[24]
| 2018 Kuomintang Taoyuan City mayoral primary results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Place | Results | ||
| Apollo Chen | Nominated | 35.689% | ||
| Lu Ming-zhe | 2nd | 33.067% | ||
| Yang Li-huan | 3rd | 31.245% | ||
| 2018 Taoyuan City mayoral results[25] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | |
| 1 | Zhu Mei-xue (朱梅雪) | .svg){kind=icon} Independent | 18,200 | 1.76% | |
| 2 | Apollo Chen |  Kuomintang | 407,234 | 39.42% | |
| 3 | Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) | Independent | 51,518 | 4.99% | |
| 4 | Wu Fu-tong (吳富彤) | Independent | 3,867 | 0.37% | |
| 5 | Cheng Wen-tsan | Democratic Progressive Party | 552,330 | 53.46% | |
| Total voters | 1,732,591 | ||||
| Valid votes | 1,033,149 | ||||
| Invalid votes | |||||
| Voter turnout | 59.63% | ||||
