The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday rebutted accusations that Lee Chun-yee’s (李俊毅) nomination as the party’s candidate in the Tainan County commissioner race was a result of factional influences.
The accusation was made by former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山), who lost out to Lee on Wednesday. Chen said he would run in the election even without the party’s backing, but would not withdraw from the party.
“It is very irresponsible for anyone who did not get the nomination to besmirch the process,” DPP department of culture and information director Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said, adding that although Chen received the most support in public opinion polls, the party made its choice based on other considerations.
He said that all the contenders were asked to sign an agreement that no matter who won the nomination, the losing contenders would fully support the winner. If necessary, the party would be happy to disclose the document, he said.
Cheng said the nomination was a two-stage process. In the first stage, Lee and his DPP counterparts, Chen and DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津), all proved to be more popular than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopefuls.
However, in the second stage, Lee’s experience as a five-term legislator and his strong relations with local voters set him apart from the other two, Cheng said.
Cheng said that the next step was for the party to unite behind Lee.
Yeh declined to comment on her loss, but said that she respected the decision by party headquarters.
Asked for comment, former premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said the party’s decision to nominate Lee “was inappropriate.”
Yeh Guo-hsin (葉國興), a member of the party’s strategy team, threatened to give up his membership as a protest against Chen’s loss.
Cheng said the party headquarters would try to persuade him to stay if he canceled his membership.
Meanwhile, the KMT said it could delay the nomination of its candidate for Taipei County commissioner, acknowledging the difficulty of finalizing a candidate for the nation’s biggest county.
The KMT announced nine candidates for the year-end county and city government elections on Wednesday. It is scheduled to finalize the candidates for Tainan City, Hsinchu County and Taitung County next month and announce the candidates for the remaining nine cities and counties, including Taipei County, Taoyuan County and Taichung City in June.
Recent disputes over the low approval rate of Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), however, complicated the situation and made it more challenging for the party to finalize its candidate.
KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi (吳敦義) said yesterday that Taipei County was “too important” for the KMT, and the party would not decide on a final candidate until after a thorough evaluation.
“We could delay the nomination process in cities and counties in which negotiations prove difficult because we have to make sure that we find the best candidates,” Wu said.
Chou kept a low profile yesterday, saying he would focus his efforts on the county’s development.
Nominees for Taitung County and Tainan County have also not been decided. In Taitung County, incumbent commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) and Taitung County Council Vice Speaker Rao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) have both expressed their determination to run and said that they would not give up even if they lost the primary.
The two hopefuls in Tainan County are KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) and former KMT legislator Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財).
In Nantou County, after the KMT nominated incumbent commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) on Wednesday. Chen Cheng-sheng (陳振盛), the director of Nantou County’s Department of Cultural Affairs, yesterday announced his withdrawal from the KMT so he could run as an independent.
Wu Den-yi said the KMT followed a democratic mechanism in nominating the candidates, urging the members to respect the process and not to violate party regulations.
The party will resort to negotiations if some hopefuls refuse to accept the results of the primaries, he added.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS