Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday urged his supporters to cling to their faith and cast their party votes for the KMT, amid growing competition from other pan-blue parties.
Chu made the remarks when canvassing for votes in Changhua County yesterday morning, in response to reporters’ inquiries on how he planned to respond to growing calls for KMT supporters to give their party vote to the New Party.
“Such a practice is bound to spark huge controversy, which I believe could be avoided if everyone just supports Eric Chu,” Chu said.
Photo: Olivia Harris, Reuters
Chu also dismissed allegations made by media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) during a political talk show on Sunday that a senior KMT member who had served in the Cabinet was mulling launching a campaign urging pan-blue supporters to abandon Chu and vote for People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜).
“I have never heard of such a plan. There are all sorts of false rumors during the final stage of an election campaign, but I believe all our supporters will vote for me,” Chu said.
There have been grave concerns that the KMT could lose chunks of the party vote to other pan-blue parties in Saturday’s legislative election, primarily due to its lackluster approval ratings and the record-high number of 18 political parties on the legislator-at-large ballot.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
To make matters worse, a number of KMT members have urged their supporters to cast their party votes for the New Party.
On Saturday, KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) listed on Facebook four reasons why pan-blue supporters should cast their party votes for the New Party, such as allowing another pan-blue party to form a legislative caucus to check the pan-green parties.
Last month, former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) of the KMT also called on supporters to cast their party votes for the New Party, calling it the “legitimate KMT.”
Legislator-at-large seats are awarded to parties that garner at least 5 percent of the party votes in the election and in proportion to the number of votes each party gains.
At a separate event in Nantou County yesterday, Chu said DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “failure to elaborate” on her cross-strait policies has unnerved many foreign reporters and academics, as well as the “silent majority” in Taiwan.
“That is why I must urge the public to come out on Saturday and vote in favor of Eric Chu,” Chu said.
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