Results of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) primary, in which controversial banker Hsueh Ling (薛凌) topped the list of legislators-at-large, had many shaking their heads about the party's determination to enforce reforms.
The DPP finished its legislative primary on Sunday with unexpected results.
Hsueh, the chairwoman of Sunny Bank (楊信銀行) and the wife of incumbent Legislator Chen Sheng-hung (陳勝宏), has been charged with insider trading.
Her marriage has also been criticized as unethical because her husband was divorced.
DPP officials yesterday expressed disapproval of Hsueh's performance and said her being listed atop the party's list of candidates for legislator at large put the party's image at risk.
"It did serious damage to the party, a combination of all the worst impacts," Legislator Tuan Yi-kan (段宜康) said.
Big problem
Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (
Shen said the party has conducted seven rounds of revisions for regulations to select legislators-at-large in past years, but the changes have failed to stop rampant vote-buying.
"No matter how many times we change the regulations, money still talks and the human weakness still succumbs to it," Shen said.
Shen was referring to the practice of candidates paying the membership fees for party members in exchange for their support.
The annual party membership fee is NT$300, but many party members have left years of fees unpaid.
Although there was no conclusive evidence of vote-buying in Sunday's primary, Shen said it was because details of vote-buying practices were difficult to trace as they were conducted in a private manner among small member networks.
Shen said the vote-buying reflected the DPP's loss of determination to push for reforms.
Fierce competition
Sunday's primary contained polls to select candidates as regional legislators (with a constituency) and legislators-at-large (without a constituency).
A total of 13 candidates registered in the legislators-at-large primary, vying for the eight safest seats.
Regarding the competition for regional legislative seats, some candidates staged a surprisingly strong showing, such as former vice minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission Chuang Suo-han (莊碩漢), who, running for the first time, bested other veteran candidates to garner the highest number of votes in the district of Taipei County.
Competition in Taipei City was fierce with political stars such as legislators Shen Fu-hsiung and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) finishing sixth in Taipei's south and north districts, respectively. However, those who didn't score well in the primary still have the chance to make up the overall rating in national opinion polls starting at the end of this month.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
CHINESE INCURSIONS, SORTIES: President William Lai thanked military officers for shouldering the responsibility of defending the survival and development of Taiwan President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that aggression would inevitably fail, pointing — on the day before a mass military parade in Beijing — to the lessons from World War II and key victories Taiwan claims against Chinese forces in 1958. Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the nation as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims that Taipei rejects. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are to oversee a military parade in Beijing today to mark the
RSS