In a bid to maximize its legislative seats, the DPP yesterday decided to expand its vote allocation strategy to four more constituencies.
"The party's Central Standing Committee has reached a resolution that the strategy for vote allocation should be employed and reinforced in constituencies in Tainan and Nantou Counties and Kaohsiung City's southern and northern districts, following the example of Taipei's constituencies," the party's Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Yang-ming (
The party is already using the strategy in Taipei City's southern and northern constituencies.
Hsu urged DPP supporters to distribute their votes evenly to DPP candidates in order to increase the party's gains in the election.
After a discussion on the matter in the committee's meeting earlier yesterday, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh said that the party's polls indicate that gaps of support for DPP candidates in the constituencies were widely divided and the highly-supported candidates' ratings could be as much as five to ten times higher than those who have barely enough support to be elected.
Hsieh said that the committee believes that if Taipei City's strategy for vote allocation is adopted in these constituencies, the election prospects of five candidates who currently face an uphill battle would turn promising.
"If the strategy is successfully put into action, five seats could certainly be gained. If not, at least there would be two to three seats secured," Hsieh said, adding that the party's central headquarters would pass on the strategy to local divisions for implementation.
Hsieh added,"If the candidate who has the most votes could allow some of his votes to go to the candidates with not enough votes to get elected, he will help increase the party's total seats."
Ten DPP candidates in Taipei's southern and northern districts have announced their plans to court votes from supporters in accordance with the final digits of voters' ID numbers. For example, voters in Taipei City's northern district whose ID card numbers end in "one" or "two" are asked to vote for Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰), while those whose numbers end in "three" or "four" are asked to vote for Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉). In other constituencies, voters' birth dates are used as a means for determining how to distribute votes among DPP candidates, according to party plans.
The committee yesterday also finalized a proposal that stipulates all party candidates must endorse the party's legislative reform plans, which include cutting the 225-member legislature by half and implementing a single district/two votes system after the elections.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious