Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said she would continue to “listen carefully” to dissenting opinions over the party’s list of -legislator-at-large candidates released last month, but maintained that the nominations were final.
Some have complained that the list, which was approved by a party committee on June 30, does not include enough civic representatives and has too many career politicians, including three of her former spokespersons.
Earlier in the day, the Taiwan Democracy Watch, an umbrella -organization of civic groups, said it was “surprised” by the DPP nominations and that the party had missed an opportunity to include several civic figures that would have broadened its base.
Photo: CNA
Despite refusing to discuss individual names, the organization is believed to have been referring to people such as DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英), a women’s equality advocate, who was not included in the top 16 places — considered the “safe list” — of the DPP at-large roster, making her re-election unlikely.
Party officials have pointed to the lack of guaranteed spots — the DPP elected 14 out of 34 nominated legislators-at-large in 2008, but is looking to gain at least two more seats next year — as the reason why several influential politicians and highly ranked lawmakers were also left off the safe list.
Huang, a two-term at-large legislator, was given top marks last month by the non-partisan Citizen Congress Watch, a legislative watchdog, for her work on the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
Speaking at a discussion organized by the Taiwan Democracy Watch, Academia Sinica researcher Wu Nai-teh (吳乃德) said that seasoned politicians on the roster should have run in local elections, leaving the at-large seats for activists and civic representatives who might not otherwise have a chance to be elected.
“Nominating civic figures as -legislators-at-large is a symbolic move and provides different avenues for a party to develop itself,” said Wu, a sociology research fellow. “It is wrong to believe that these people, just because they represent the disadvantaged, will not make good politicians.”
While the safe list does include civic figures such as Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如), an advocate for the disabled who was listed as No. 1 for the second time, critics said that most other spots on the safe list went to long-time politicians such as Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), a DPP spokesperson; Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), a former party deputy secretary-general; former lawmaker and close aide of former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡); DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and former lawmaker Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康).
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
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
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
RSS