KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) yesterday met with his PFP counterpart Tsai Chung-hsiung (蔡鐘雄) to discuss who will represent the two parties in the Hualien County commissioner election in August.
Former Cabinet secretary-general Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) of the KMT has emerged as the favorite to get the nomination, although other pan-blue candidates have refused to rule out running independent campaigns if they are not chosen.
Hsieh, a senior KMT official and labor-union leader, led opinion polls conducted by the KMT.
"After discussing this matter extensively during our meeting, we'll reach a conclusion on who the KMT-PFP alliance wishes to jointly nominate," Lin said.
"We'll then report our conclusion to both KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (
He said Lien and Soong would jointly announce their decision today.
The Hualien County commissioner by-election will be held on Aug. 2 to fill the post left vacant by KMT incumbent, Chang fu-hsiung (張福興), who died of lung cancer last month.
Although Hsieh is the favorite to get the nomination, some other party members have also expressed their strong intention to win the candidacy. They include former Hualien County commissioner Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟) and Liu Chao-eh (劉詔娥), widow of the late commissioner Chang. PFP Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) has also expressed a desire to run.
Although Lin was confident his party could persuade other candidates to step down after the nomination is announced, Wu said he was keeping his options open.
"Even though I would not be at all happy if the party skips over me to nominate others, I can't do anything about it," Wu said.
He said last night that KMT headquarters had not informed him of any conclusions they may have reached.
When asked whether he would resign his KMT membership to run his own campaign if the party did not nominate him, Wu said, "I have yet to consider such an option, though chances are that such scenario might evolve."
Hualien County is considered a pan-blue stronghold, but if Wu insists on running he could divide the pan-blue vote.
Liu, who claimed that Lien had once encouraged her to succeed her husband, has said that she would nonetheless respect the party headquarters' decision if she was not nominated. She was unavailable for comment last night.
After the failure of the parties' joint candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral race in December last year, August's by-election is seen as a crucial test of their ability to cooperate in elections ahead of the presidential vote in March next year.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
RSS