James Soong's (
Soong completed a 45-day signature drive on Thursday by handing in more than a million names to election officials, enabling his name to be placed on the March ballot.
The signature drive was launched Nov. 26, but was sidetracked by a scandal that threatened to destroy Soong's presidential aspirations.
Soong aides now say that allegations of financial impropriety that began on Dec. 9, when KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (
While the allegations put Soong's clean-cut image to the severest of tests, his campaign has emerged stronger and more focussed and a temporary faltering of support has turned into strong momentum.
Campaign officials admitted that the financial dealings surrounding the accounts of Soong's son, Soong Chen-yuan (
"After the allegations were made by Yang, we were forced to stop our regular campaign activities -- of course, including the ongoing signature drive -- for almost two weeks,'' said Lee Horng-yuan (
Things remained at a standstill until what Soong's camp has called a "cross-examination-style" conference summoned by New Party legislator Hsieh Chi-ta (
"After Hsieh stepped into the investigation, the signature forms came rolling in,'' Soong's campaign manager, Wu Rong-ming (
"Using the excuse of inquiring about (Soong's) expenditures, the KMT wanted to repress both our campaign fundraising and the number of signatures we could gather,'' Wu said.
However, Soong officials said that the tremendous pressure from high-ranking KMT officials had, in fact, worked to the advantage of Soong.
"Contrary to what the KMT had expected, the result was a coalescence of Soong's core voters,'' Lee said.
Analysts agree that the crisis in voter confidence produced by the scandal led to vast numbers of signatures for Soong in the final push before the deadline.
Soong officials also said that most of the signature forms had come from northern Taiwan -- with nearly 600,000 from Taipei City.
But apart from individual supporters, the biggest source of signatures still had to rely on organizational mobilization, built during Soong's tenure as provincial governor from 1993 to 1998.
Those channels, according to Soong officials, include teachers, transport workers (under the former provincial administration) and members of local farmers' associations.
Based on the results of the signature drive, Soong's camp has also developed what they are calling a "signature drive theory" -- which states that each signature can, more or less, result in three votes on election day.
Officials said the theory was based mainly on the precedent set during the last presidential election.
In the first-ever direct presidential election in Taiwan in 1996, independent candidate Lin Yang-kang (
The ratio between the signatures and actual ballots was approximately 2.5 and 2.8 to one respectively.
But this theory has already come under fire by opposition critics who blasted the calculation as lacking any scientific support.
"Elections can never be brought down to such mathematics," said You Ying-lung (
Kenneth Lin (林向愷), a top aide to Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), said that Soong's camp could be over-estimating its ability to pull in votes.
"Tracing things back to 1996, when the presidential election was conducted amid missile threats from China, almost everyone was concentrating on pointing their fingers at China, and ignored the candidates challenging President Lee Teng-hui (
This time, however, the scenario is different, Lin said.
"Soong's grass-roots mobilization power has been ignited by the alleged money scandal. Moreover, with five contenders participating in this presidential race, voters willing to declare their stance have already done so,'' Lin said.
Given the unique quality of Taipei, either on the basis of ethnic or education background -- it shares both the largest mainlander group and the highest level of educated people -- Taipei cannot be seen as representative of the rest of Taiwan, Lin said.
"The great number of signatures Soong collected in Taipei City casts doubt over his future power base," Lin said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)