The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday brushed off KMT Legislator Alex Tsai’s (蔡正元) opposition to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) bid for re-election as KMT chairman and said the party would elect its party chief in accordance with party regulations.
Citing the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), Tsai yesterday said on his Facebook page that leaders of any civil organization, including political parties, should only be re-elected once.
Article 17 of the KMT’s charter also states that the party’s chairperson is to serve a four-year term and can be re-elected once.
Ma was elected KMT chairman in 2005, but resigned in 2007 when he was indicted for allegedly misusing his special allowance during his tenure as Taipei mayor.
The position was filled by Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), who served as party chairman until 2009.
Ma was acquitted of the corruption charges and was re-elected party chairman in 2009.
Having been re-elected once, Ma should not seek another re-election after finishing his term this year, Tsai said.
“Even if President Ma insisted on seeking another term and won re-election, the election result could be nullified by a court,” he said.
The KMT has said it will hold its party chairperson election in July, with Ma so far being the only party member who has announced his intention to run.
In response to Tsai’s challenges over the legitimacy of Ma’s bid for re-election, KMT spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said the party would look into the issue, adding that it would hold the election in accordance with regulations.
The Civil Associations Act also states that political organizations have the authority to make their own regulations, which means that the KMT can revise its regulations if necessary.
Calls for Ma to stop seeking re-election are growing amid the president’s low approval rating and public protests over his administration’s performance. New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) recently said that Ma should focus his efforts on cultivating talent and finding a successor.
Ma has started visiting KMT branches around the nation to meet with party delegates in an effort to consolidate support for his re-election bid.
The KMT is also arranging for the president to tour the nation to communicate with party members in forums and other activities to boost his public support.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS