Delighted to see that the DPP's candidate for the Hualien County commissioner by-election You Ying-lung (
"Last weekend's passionate campaign for You has significantly boosted the DPP's morale in Hualien and has strengthened support for You. It's an election battle worth fighting for. The president has encouraged everyone to make a final effort for You," DPP's Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
The DPP yesterday discussed its polling analysis on the three candidates in the by-election. The polls indicate that both You and KMT candidate Hsieh Shen-shan (
Chen Chun-lin (
"The three candidates still make for a close match, because each of them has about 30 percent of voter support. Ten percent of the public have expressed indecision," Chen said.
"The DPP has consolidated 30 percent of its traditional base of support in Hualien, and during the past few days we also have seen a significant one to two percent growth in support for You, especially from the younger voters," Chen said, citing a series of results from the poll.
The party declined to release figures of the poll because the election law does not allow the results of surveys to be released in the 10 days prior to an election.
Commenting on the factors that would affect the candidates, Chen said that a serious clash amid the overlapping pan-blue bases of support for Hsieh and Wu would undermine their "campaign pillars" -- the vote-captains. Chen doubted Soong would be able to sway PFP vote-captains' support from Wu to Hsieh.
"From early July till now, we have seen 20 percent of the PFP supporters show up in support of Wu," Chen said.
"Though Soong has openly stumped for Hsieh, it is still an unpredictable race. Soong has not made a final drastic call to demand that his PFP followers support Hsieh and only Hsieh," Chen said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to 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), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner