Top Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials have decided to delay the start of the party’s presidential primary from Friday to May 22, with the time frame for a public opinion poll to be worked out later, DPP Secretary-General Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) said yesterday after a meeting of the DPP Central Executive Committee.
Meanwhile, a five-member mediation panel would confer with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her challenger, former premier William Lai (賴清德), to finalize the process to determine the DPP’s candidate for next year’s presidential election.
The proposal to delay the primary was raised at the meeting and passed without opposition, “so the committee members will all bear responsibility together,” Luo said, adding that it would “foster unity within our party, without making changes or interrupting the primary process.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
There have been serious concerns of a major crisis developing that could lead to the party splitting up, as Lai, who has insisted that there should be no change to the party’s primary process, has mounted a strong challenge to Tsai for the nomination.
The panel and other key party officials have reportedly been negotiating a Tsai-Lai ticket, in which the former premier would be the vice presidential candidate.
“At the end of the meeting, DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) called on party members to use the additional time to confer and coordinate between the two sides, not for further confrontation and fighting,” Luo said. “Strong-arm tactics will not achieved the desired result of coordination.”
Luo quoted Cho as saying: “We urge Tsai and Lai, our party’s two presidential candidate hopefuls, to keep their supporters from feuding and not to attack each other. All party officials must take a neutral stance and should no longer make public displays of support for either camp.”
Following the party’s announcement, Lai issued a statement titled: “No backing down from the arbitrary; Insistence on my original conviction; and Stay in the race all the way.”
He expressed regret over the delay, saying that “the committee is making changes for a second time. The move is a serious blow to the DPP and has invalidated our party’s founding value of democracy.”
Lai said that he disagreed with the delay, adding: “I was not consulted beforehand about this decision.”
“When I entered into the presidential primary process, I intended to gather wide support from all sides and to pick up the political burden for Taiwan,” he said.
“I knew at the time that there would be many difficulties ahead. Whether these come from within the party or from outside, I will face them with all my courage,” Lai added.
Primaries had been a mechanism that the DPP could be proud of, Lai said.
“It is the biggest difference between us and other political parties, which only have one voice and no dissent,” he said. “However, now our party regards it as a fearful beast to be avoided, or compares it to two trains on a collision course.”
The primary process allows both camps to debate the party’s path, and brings out competing ideas and new concepts, Lai said, adding that afterward, “we can still find common ground for unity, to work together toward a better future and together take up the political responsibility for Taiwan.”
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