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Chou Chun-mi

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Chou.
Chou Chun-mi
周春米
Official portrait, 2016
13th Magistrate of Pingtung
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 December 2022
Preceded byPan Men-an
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 2016 – 25 December 2022
Succeeded byChen Ching-min
ConstituencyParty-list (Democratic Progressive Party)
Personal details
Born (1966-11-01) 1 November 1966 (age 57)
Pingtung City, Pingtung County, Taiwan
NationalityTaiwan
Political partyDemocratic Progressive Party
EducationNational Taiwan University (LLB)

Chou Chun-mi (Chinese: 周春米; pinyin: Zhōu Chūnmǐ; Wade–Giles: Chou1 Chun1-mi3; born 1 November 1966) is a Taiwanese politician and lawyer who is currently Magistrate of Pingtung County, serving since 2022. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), she served in the Legislative Yuan from 2016 until 2022.

Personal life, education and early career

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Chou was born on 1 November 1966,[1][2] to a political family in Pingtung County.[3] Her father, Chou Hui-huang (周輝煌), was affiliated with the Kuomintang and served on the Pingtung County Council in the 1970s.[4][5]

Chou obtained her bachelor's degree in law from National Taiwan University.[6] She was a judge for seven years in the Pingtung and Kaohsiung district courts,[6][5][7] and a lawyer for fifteen.[5] During her legal career, Chou often provided counsel to the DPP.[5] She also represented families of people drowned in the Shuangyuan Bridge collapse caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009.[5][8]

Political career

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Legislative Yuan

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Chou won election to the Legislative Yuan via the Democratic Progressive Party proportional representation party list in 2016 and 2020.[6][9] Chou participated in legislative questioning regarding topics related to Taiwanese indigenous people and the foreign relations of Taiwan during her first year in office.[10][11] During the 2018 local elections, Chou claimed that Hsu Hsin-ying's magisterial campaign was attempting to buy votes.[12] During the 2020 presidential election, she asserted that Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu was deceiving voters regarding the source of his wealth.[13] Over the course of her legislative tenure, Chou has opposed nuclear power,[14] called for environmental cleanup efforts,[15] and offered medical diplomacy to Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.[16]

Committee leadership

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In September 2018, Chou and fellow legislator Lin Wei-chou were elected co-chairs of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.[17] As committee co-chair, Chou expressed support for amendments to the Court Organic Act and the Administrative Court Organization Act, which permitted the establishment of collegiate grand chambers, which would lessen the possibility of courts issuing conflicting rulings.[18] She retained the post in another election held in February 2019.[19] In January 2022, Chou was elected to head the Constitutional Amendment Committee [zh], a decision protested by Kuomintang legislators, who did not arrive in time to participate in the leadership vote.[20][21] The Kuomintang then boycotted a committee hearing due to the disagreement over leadership.[22] Chou called attention to Kuomintang boycotts of bills seeking to lower the voting age to eighteen.[23] The bill passed the legislature, but failed a referendum.

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In 2018, Chou co-sponsored a national defense bill requiring government contractors to use a portion of governmental funds on defense-related research and development.[24] In 2019, she sponsored amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure [zh] introducing codified travel restrictions for persons of interest.[25] Later that year, Chou moved for the Legal Aid Foundation to investigate and report on reasons that a majority of indigenous people unable to pay legal fees were refusing the foundation's legal aid.[26] The following year, Chou sponsored amendments to the Political Donations Act, permitting events related to recall elections to receive monetary donations,[27] and another set of changes to Article 87 of the Criminal Code [zh], extending the psychiatric custody limit to fourteen years.[28]

Pingtung County magistracy

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Chou won the DPP nomination for the Pingtung County magistracy in polls also featuring Chuang Jui-hsiung and Chung Chia-pin facing off against Su Ching-chuan.[4][29] Chou was elected to office after winning the 2022 Pingtung County magistrate election held on 26 November 2022.[5] In addition to Su, Chou faced New Power Party candidate Chan Chih-chun.[30] During the election, SET News conflated Chou's vote count with Su's, making it seem as if Chou had lost.[31][32] Su's subsequent challenge of Chou's electoral victory was dismissed by the Pingtung District Court.[33][34] Following the dismissal of Su's petition, Chou took office on 25 December 2022.[35] Chen Ching-min assumed Chou's vacant legislative seat.[35][36]

2022 Pingtung County magisterial results[37]
No. Candidate Party Votes Percentage
1 Chan Chih-chun (詹智鈞) New Power Party 19,156 4.32%
2 Su Ching-chuan Kuomintang 206,460 46.59%
3 Chou Chun-mi Democratic Progressive Party 217,537 49.09%
Registered voters 　679,330
Total voters 　456,382
Valid votes 　443,153
Invalid votes 　13,229
Voter turnout 　67.18%

References

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  1. ^ "6號 周春米". Liberty Times (in Chinese). 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. ^ "周春米". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Plague-expelling religious festival to be held on schedule". Central News Agency. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2022. Republished as: "Anti-plague festival to be scaled down". Taipei Times. 24 October 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b Pan, Jason (8 April 2022). "Chou Chun-mi wins DPP Pingtung County nomination". Taipei Times. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Ko, Lin (26 November 2022). "ELECTIONS 2022/DPP Chou Chun-mi becomes 1st elected female magistrate of Pingtung County". Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Chou Chun-mi (9)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  7. ^ Gerber, Abraham (23 February 2017). "Women's groups call for an end to frivolous lawsuits". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  8. ^ Chao, Vincent Y. (6 August 2010). "Bridge disaster families waiting for compensation". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Chou Chun-mi (10)". Legislative Yuan. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  10. ^ Lin, Liang-sheng; Ku, Chia-hsin; Chung, Jake (28 February 2016). "Lawmakers pan Prague for sovereignty slight". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  11. ^ Lin, Sean (27 May 2016). "Tsai's Aboriginal rights policy disputed". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  12. ^ Pan, Jason (17 November 2018). "ELECTIONS: Prosecutors looking into reports of rice-for-votes scheme". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  13. ^ Pan, Jason (22 November 2019). "Han campaign 'deceiving' regarding his wealth: DPP". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  14. ^ Lin, Chia-nan (20 November 2018). "ELECTIONS: Lawyers, students sign to support nuclear-free land". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  15. ^ Tsai, Tsung-hsien (28 June 2021). "Kaohsiung oil spill drifts farther south". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Virus Outbreak: DPP lawmakers donate medical gowns to Osaka". Taipei Times. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  17. ^ Lin, Sean (28 September 2018). "Lawmakers elect 16 conveners for eight Legislative Yuan committees". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  18. ^ Lin, Sean (8 December 2018). "Law change creates 'grand chambers'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  19. ^ Lin, Sean (24 February 2019). "Legislature names those leading its eight committees". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  20. ^ Pan, Jason (7 January 2022). "Constitutional committee gets off to a rocky start". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  21. ^ Pan, Jason (18 January 2022). "Protesters stage rally for protection of animal rights". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  22. ^ Pan, Jason (14 January 2022). "KMT legislators skip amendment committee hearing". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Constitutional revision to lower voting age passes committee review". Central News Agency. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022. Republished as: "Bill to lower the voting age to 18 passes review". Taipei Times. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  24. ^ Lo, Tien-pin; Chin, Jonathan; Chung, Jake (30 December 2018). "Bill aims to revitalize defense sector". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  25. ^ Lin, Sean (25 May 2019). "Code revision provides basis for travel ban". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  26. ^ Lin, Sean (6 November 2019). "Legal Aid Foundation budget passed". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  27. ^ Hsieh, Chun-lin; Chung, Jake (27 May 2020). "DPP eyes changes to donation rules for recalls". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  28. ^ "Lawmakers call for psychiatric custody limit of 14 years". Taipei Times. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  29. ^ Su, Chin-feng; Chin, Jonathan (1 May 2022). "DPP nominates Tsai Chi-chang for Taichung mayor". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  30. ^ "NPP nominates candidates for Keelung mayor, Pingtung magistrate races". Central News Agency. 15 June 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022. Republished as: "NPP names Keelung, Pingtung local election candidates". Taipei Times. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  31. ^ Shan, Shelley (1 December 2022). "NCC tells SET News to probe election errors". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  32. ^ Shan, Shelley (2 December 2022). "Digital act not proceeding due to lack of public consensus: NCC chairman". Taipei Times. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  33. ^ Lee, Huei-ting; Lee, Hsin-Yin (27 November 2022). "ELECTIONS 2022/KMT's Su seeks vote recount in Pingtung magistrate election". Central News Agency. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  34. ^ Lee, Huei-ting; Lin, Sean (8 December 2022). "ELECTIONS 2022/Court dismisses KMT magistrate candidate's request for ballot recount". Central News Agency. Retrieved 29 December 2022. Republished as: "Pingtung court dismisses recount bid by KMT's Su". Taipei Times. 10 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  35. ^ a b Chen, Chun-hua; Kao, Evelyn (26 December 2022). "By-election for Nantou legislative seat scheduled for March 4". Central News Agency. Retrieved 26 December 2022. Republished as: "By-election for Hsu's Nantou seat set for March 4". Taipei Times. 27 December 2022. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  36. ^ Chen, Yun-yu; Ko, Lin (6 December 2022). "Nursing association head honored in Ireland". Central News Agency. Retrieved 7 December 2022. Republished as: "Chen Ching-min inducted to Irish nursing faculty". Taipei Times. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  37. ^ "2022 ー 111年縣市長選舉". Central Election Commission. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
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