With the mayoral election only a day away, most Taipei residents have formed their voting decisions, with many giving ample weight to the two candidates' character.
Lin Yu-yun (林郁昀), 24, an employee at the Kungkuan outlet the Kingstone bookstore chain, said he would vote for Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), saying he is less negative compared with his DPP challenger Lee Ying-yuan (李應元).
"I prefer Ma to Lee as the latter spends way too much of his campaign attacking the incumbent," said Lin, who lives in Chung-cheng district.
Ma received 49,864 votes, or the support of 54 percent of voters, in the district four years ago.
Lin, an independent, said he was also impressed by Ma's squeaky-clean image.
"For the aforementioned reasons, I'm willing to overlook the mayor's inefficiency in cleaning up the aftermath of Typhoon Nari last year," he said.
The disaster brought an unprecedented amount of rainfall to the capital, killing 27 people, flooding 4,000 basements and disrupting the mass rapid system for more than a month. Some of the damage could have been avoided if the city government had taken adequate precautions.
Regardless, Ma appears set to win the election as polls show he enjoys a two-digit lead against his DPP challenger.
Liu Lu-chun (
"To judge a politician, one needs to take many things into consideration," he said.
"Well educated and kindhearted, Ma will make a good mayor during his second term," Liu said.
A retired soldier, Liu said he will not back any candidate with a pro-independence leaning, a stance held by many of the over 100,000 mainlanders in the city.
Ma garnered 99,843 ballots, or 56 percent support, from the Tai-an district in 1998.
The mayor's pro-unification beliefs, however, turn away voters at the other end of the sovereignty spectrum.
Lu Fong-chen (呂芳成), 51, who owns Jessica Florist in Chungshan district, said he will vote for Lee because the DPP flag-bearer favors Taiwan independence.
"Whether a candidate identifies with Taiwan tops my list of concerns," he said, adding that his two daughters and sisters share his opinion.
Lu, without any political affiliation, painted Ma as a mediocre mayor who has done little except perform political stunts in the past four years.
The Chungshan district is one of the three communities where Ma failed to win a majority of the votes in 1998.
Wang Ching-shun (
Wang and his 33-year-old wife, Hsu Shiow-ling (許秀鈴), said Taipei has stagnated and that it takes a decisive administrator to inject the city with vitality.
The couple said they are not familiar with Lee but trusted the recommendation of President Chen Shui-bian (
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost