The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) chairmanship hand-over ceremony is slated to take place next Thursday, the party's acting chairwoman Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) announced yesterday.
Given that Lu and newly elected chairman Yu Shyi-kun previously had disagreed on the date of the hand-over, Yu yesterday went to DPP headquarters to speak with Lu about the issue, saying that he would respect her decision on the issue.
Lu had originally planned to stay on in the position until Feb. 8, while Yu wanted the hand-over be completed before the Lunar New Year.
After the DPP's weekly central standing committee yesterday, Lu announced that she would transfer power to Yu next Thursday in a ceremony at 10am.
"Although [the ceremony date] is a petty thing, I think it is necessary to make the course of decision-making clear," Lu said.
Meanwhile, during the meeting of the central standing committee, committee member Chou Ching-yu (周清玉) proposed that party members who had publicly denounced Lu should be dealt with.
Although no names were mentioned, it was apparent that Chou was referring to former chief convener of the DPP's New Tide faction Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康).
After Lu took up the acting chairwoman position, Tuan said "there must be a devil if the nation is about to perish," a Chinese proverb that roughly translates as evil appears before a nation's downfall, insinuating that Lu's attitude signalled the country's demise.
Many of Lu's supporters protested yesterday afternoon in front of the DPP's headquarters, asking that Tuan be expelled, saying that Tuan often made damaging remarks about the DPP and its leaders.
Lu yesterday said she would not ask the party to punish Tuan over the comments, but she wanted to urge political figures not to make such comments via the media.
"I hope that people can be cautious about what they say and not reveal their discrimination against women, otherwise, the inappropriate remarks will only destroy their own image,"Lu said.
Lu yesterday also said that the DPP will prohibit its members from paying the annual membership fees of other members.
Previously, some people in the DPP would pay the annual fees for others, so he or she can control votes in primaries or other elections. To make it more convenient for members to pay their fees, the DPP will collect annual fees through Chunghwa Post Co Ltd, which has more than 20 million accounts and 1,382 branches nationwide. The new regulation will be implemented on Jan. 1 next year.
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