Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday predicted that the party would face another electoral debacle in next year's legislative elections if the next DPP chairman does not implement reforms and respond to people's call for change.
"Judging from the causes leading to the DPP's debacle in the three-in-one elections held last December, I think it is inevitable that the DPP will have to swallow another defeat if it fails to adjust its policies to meet the public's expectations," former chief convener of the DPP's New Tide faction, Tuan Yi-kang (
"My take on the 2007 elections is that the number of legislative seats held by the DPP will shrink sharply from 89 to only 40 or even fewer as a new electoral system -- the single-member district and two-vote system -- will be adopted in 2007," Tuan said.
Tuan said that he has already noticed problems emerging with candidate nominations, and that some candidates suspected of being corrupt have gradually improved ties with the DPP, which will harm the party's chances next year.
In addition to Yu and Tuan, DPP legislators Julian Kuo (
Cheng echoed Tuan's views, saying he was worried that the pan-blue camp will seize most of the legislative seats in the electoral districts in northern Taiwan because of the new electoral system. As such, DPP lawmakers elected in 2007 might come mainly from southern Taiwan, making it more difficult for the new generation to participate in politics.
The three participating legislators represent electoral districts in metropolitan Taipei.
Meanwhile, one day after debating with his two rivals for the post of DPP chairman -- DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (
"The separation of the party and the government administration would only cause disunity in the DPP, and create the impression that the DPP just wants to avoid taking responsibility for making mistakes," Yu said.
Yu said he would concentrate his efforts on creating a system to facilitate a collective decision-making mechanism between the party and the government.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching