A dispute emerged yesterday over a Central Election Commission decision that the New Party's candidate for Taipei County commissioner, Wang Chien-shien, can only represent one party in the election.
Candidates from the KMT, the New Party and the People First Party (PFP) held a joint press conference yesterday to argue that through the decision, the DPP seeks to obstruct the integration of the three parties. They also said they would petition the Council of Grand Justices for a constitutional interpretation on the issue.
The four candidates, three of which are incumbents, included KMT candidates Ting Shou-chung (
The PFP's Wang says his party and the KMT jointly nominated him for the commissioner's post. His office yesterday said that they haven't decided how to react to the decision, but would decide after discussing the case with their attorneys. Wang's case is a first in Taiwan's electoral history.
Under the Public Officials Election and Recall Law, political parties may nominate candidates for each open public office, but the rules say political parties can only nominate their own members. The commission rejected Wang's request to represent the three opposition parties, but offered to formally hear his objections on Nov. 6.
Chou Yang-san (周陽山), who represented the New Party at the election commission's meeting, emphasized that there were examples of different parties jointly nominating candidates in the US and France and argued that the commission's rule flies in the face of the legislation's underlying intent.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,