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.
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
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CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or