Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed optimism about the party’s chances in next month’s three-in-one local elections, saying the DPP was expected to retain its grip on Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties.
In a radio interview on Thursday, Tsai said recent polls showed a strong lead for DPP candidates in the three counties, while the candidate in Yilan County enjoyed a narrow lead over his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart and there was hope for the DPP candidate in Taitung County.
“Overall, the situation for the DPP is moving in a positive direction, but close observation is still needed to see whether we can maintain this lead up to polling day,” Tsai said. “It would be disappointing if the DPP fails to hold on to power in Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties.”
PHOTO: CHANG TSUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
SUPPORT
Tsai also spoke for the first time in public in support of Chang Chih-ming (張志明), an independent candidate for Hualien County, saying that the battle in Hualien was not about winning, but about choosing a good county commissioner.
While declining to predict the election results, Tsai said the biggest variable in local elections was vote-buying and that the key to winning lay in preventing bribery.
To that end, the DPP’s legislative caucus has already purchased video-taping equipment, she said.
More than 800 suspected cases of vote-buying in the run-up to the local elections for mayors and magistrates, city and county councilors and city and township heads have been reported as of last Sunday, of which 13 are under investigation, the Ministry of Justice said.
Next month’s elections will be held in 17 cities and counties only. Six cities and counties — Taipei County, Taichung City, Taichung County, Tainan City, Tainan County and Kaohsiung County — that will be upgraded or merged into municipalities will not elect new chiefs until late next year.
Asked whether she would run for a mayoral position in one of the new municipalities, Tsai said it was too early to discuss the matter, but added: “While sometimes the party chair might not be the best candidate, there are times when it is the chair’s responsibility to stand up and play the game.”
She urged party members who intend to run for mayoral positions in the new municipalities to first work together to win the upcoming local elections before sitting down to discuss the matter.
SPLIT
Tsai was referring to a recent dispute between Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), both of whom look set to vie for the DPP ticket for the Kaohsiung municipal elections next year, when Kaohsiung County is merged with Kaohsiung City.
Yang accused Chen of releasing a poll survey showing that both Chen’s support rate and satisfaction rate were higher than Yang’s.
Chen denied the accusation, saying she had not published any public opinion polls.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS