Scorning the vehement criticism that the Kaohsiung City councilor by-election is tainted by candidates with blood ties to corrupt politicians, President Chen Shui-bian (
"The Kaohsiung City Government needs a solid pan-green majority to support the administration," Chen said yesterday.
The DPP, which has recently been under fire for nominating candidates who have family ties with former city councilors who were convicted of taking bribes in the vote-buying scandal surrounding a former council speaker, has chosen the strategy to propagandize the city government's administrative performance as an appeal to the DPP's by-election prospects and played down the focus on the merits of individual candidates.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen yesterday led a line-up of officials, including Vice President Annette Lu (
Hsieh yesterday said the pan-green camp will need eight or nine seats total in order to achieve the majority on the city council.
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
Hsieh said only 26 city councilors out of the total 44 are in office, and 15 councilors from across party lines have formed a strategic alliance with the city government.
The Kaohsiung City Council has a total of 44 seats and the by-election today will find replacements for 18 city councilors, most of whom were convicted during the election.
Political observers said the voter turnout will be a critical factor in the pan-green camp's performance in the election.
Former DPP Councilor Lee Kun-tseh (李坤澤), who recently quit his post in order to take part in the year-end legislative elections, said if the voters' willingness to cast their ballots is too low, it will encourage vote-buying -- a situation which will help the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP), since they have highly developed local organizations and networks with which to promote such practices.
Meanwhile, on the eve of the by-election, infighting between the DPP and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) continued, as the TSU urged Kaohsiung's voters to distinguish who are the candidates with genuine integrity in the upcoming election, saying that it is an important opportunity for Kaohsiung to clear its name of the disgrace of "black gold."
Along with four candidates, TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) and presidential adviser Alice King (金美齡) yesterday held a news conference to try and stir up enthusiasm for the party, as the public has been apathetic about the election.
Huang urged his party's ally, the DPP, to unite with the TSU to ensure all candidates nominated by the pan-green camp will win in the by-election, since the TSU has been supporting Chen since the party was founded in 2001.
RESPECT
Huang said that the TSU showed its respect for the DPP by only nominating four candidates in four voting precincts in this by-election, and also by canceling a campaign rally out of consideration for the victims of the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Mindulle.
"What the government should do is to enhance its crackdown on vote-buying, rather than mobilizing so many governmental chiefs," Huang said.
PFP Secretary-General Tsai Chung-hsiung (蔡鐘雄) and Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) yesterday went to Kaohsiung to campaign.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) did not hold a large campaign rally.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique