The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) acting chairman Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday said that the DPP rank-and-file will elect a new chairman before Feb. 1.
Ker, who is also the DPP's legislative caucus whip, furthermore said that a number of the general budget bills for next year have not been passed yet and therefore the Cabinet reshuffle will not be initiated until January, since many incumbent governmental officials have to deal with the bills.
Ker also said that the DPP will come up with the details of the chairmanship election in its central executive committee meeting next Tuesday. A new chairman is expected to be announced before the Cabinet's reorganization on Feb. 1.
A DPP Central Standing Committee member, Chou Ching-yu (周清玉), who failed in her legislative re-election bid, has announced that she will campaign for the chairman's position. DPP Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮), who is said to also be contending for the chairmanship, yesterday dismissed this news as "rumor."
The DPP did not discuss the new chairman's required qualifications in its last national convention on Sept. 26, but the convention reached a conclusion that a new chairman will be elected by its grassroots party members when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) stepped down from the position. Because of this, Ker said that he was worried that many unqualified candidates would join in the elections.
"There will be many elections in the next two years and the new chairman has to undertake the task of campaigning for our candidates as well as consolidate the DPP," Ker said.
"Therefore, the new chairman has to have a good reputation among our supporters," he said.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who has been touted by the local media as one of the prospective candidates for the premiership, yesterday said that he supported Chen's resignation, saying that it was done according to the DPP's tradition and culture.
"I think the president's resignation as DPP chairman demonstrates his sense of responsibility," Hsieh said.
"The president has also made up his mind to become a mediator and his resignation would help him to remain detached and objective in such a role," he said.
Hsieh said that he believed the DPP's organizational system has become mature enough to allow the president to not lead the party any longer.
Commenting on the DPP's failure to win a legislative majority on Saturday, Hsieh said that the DPP did not actually lose, as the party obtained more votes and seats than in the previous legislative elections.
Hsieh said that, compared with the other parties, the DPP was the only one that performed better in these elections than in the 2001 elections.
"The DPP just failed to achieve the goal it had set itself, which, realistically, was too high to attain," Hsieh said.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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