Chou Chun-mi (; born 1 November 1966) is a Taiwanese politician. She was elected to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

in 2016 and served until 2022, when she took office as Magistrate of Pingtung County.

Personal life, education and early career

Chou was born on 1 November 1966, to a political family in Pingtung County. Her father, Chou Hui-huang (周輝煌), was affiliated with the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

and served on the Pingtung County Council in the 1970s. Chou obtained her bachelor's degree in law from National Taiwan University. She was a judge for seven years in the Pingtung and Kaohsiung district courts, and a lawyer for fifteen. During her legal career, Chou often provided counsel to the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...

(DPP). She also represented families of people drowned in the Shuangyuan Bridge collapse caused by

Typhoon Morakot Typhoon Morakot, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Kiko, was the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history. The eighth named storm and fourth typhoon of the 2009 Pacific typhoon season, Morakot wrought catastrophic damage in Taiwa ...

in 2009.

Political career

Legislative Yuan

Chou won election to the

via the

proportional representation party list in 2016 and 2020. Chou participated in legislative questioning regarding topics related to

Taiwanese indigenous people Taiwanese indigenous peoples (formerly Taiwanese aborigines), also known as Formosan people, Austronesian Taiwanese, Yuanzhumin or Gaoshan people, are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, with the nationally recognized subgroups numbering about 5 ...

and the foreign relations of Taiwan during her first year in office. During the 2018 local elections, Chou claimed that Hsu Hsin-ying's magisterial campaign was attempting to buy votes. During the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

, she asserted than Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu was deceiving voters regarding the source of his wealth. Over the course of her legislative tenure, Chou has opposed nuclear power, called for environmental cleanup efforts, and offered medical diplomacy to Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Committee leadership

In September 2018, Chou and fellow legislator

Lin Wei-chou Lin or LIN may refer to: People *Lin (surname) (normally ), a Chinese surname *Lin (surname) (normally 蔺), a Chinese surname * Lin (''The King of Fighters''), Chinese assassin character *Lin Chow Bang, character in Fat Pizza Places *Lin, Iran, ...

were elected co-chairs of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee. 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. She retained the post in another election held in February 2019. In January 2022, Chou was elected to head the , a decision protested by Kuomintang legislators, who did not arrive in time to participate in the leadership vote. The Kuomintang then boycotted committee a hearing due to the disagreement over leadership. Chou called attention to Kuomintang boycotts of bills seeking to lower the voting age to eighteen. The bill passed the legislature, but failed a referendum.

Pingtung County magistracy

Chou won the DPP nomination for the magistracy in polls also featuring Chuang Jui-hsiung and Chung Chia-pin facing off against

Su Ching-chuan Su Ching-chuan (; born 5 August 1957) is a Taiwanese physician and politician. He lost the 2008 legislative election, won election to the Legislative Yuan in 2012, and contested the Pingtung County magistracy in 2018 and 2022. Medical career Su e ...

. Chou was elected as the Magistrate of Pingtung County after winning the 2022 Pingtung County magistrate election held on 26 November 2022. In addition to Su, Chou faced New Power Party candidate Chan Chih-chun. During the election,

SET News SET News (SETN; ) is a 24-hour news channel of the Sanlih E-Television in Taiwan, launched in March 1998. SET News and sister channel SET iNews are considered media outlets leaning towards the Pan-Green coalition. SET News is available on YouT ...

conflated Chou's vote count with Su's, making it seem as if Chou had lost. Su's subsequent challenge of Chou's electoral victory was dismissed by the Pingtung District Court. Following the dismissal of Su's petition, Chou took office on 25 December 2022. Republished as: Chen Ching-min assumed Chou's vacant legislative seat. Republished as:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chou, Chun-mi Living people 1966 births 21st-century Taiwanese women politicians Members of the 9th Legislative Yuan Members of the 10th Legislative Yuan Magistrates of Pingtung County Democratic Progressive Party Members of the Legislative Yuan National Taiwan University alumni Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan 21st-century Taiwanese lawyers 20th-century Taiwanese lawyers Taiwanese women judges Taiwanese women lawyers 20th-century Taiwanese judges