On the last day of her tenure, acting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Annette Lu (
After presiding over the last central standing committee of her month in charge yesterday, Lu announced the 10 achievements she had made over the past month, saying that she was glad to have completed the tasks using efficiency and integrity.
Her 10 feats included the successful completion of the chairpersonship by-election and reforming the method of payment for annual membership fees.
After talking up her personal achievements, Lu went on to suggest four issues for Yu to tackle.
Lu pointed out that Yu should be concerned about the low turn-out rate in the party chairpersonship by-election and try to find out the reasons behind the party's local government election debacle last month. How to lead the DPP to victory in future elections and restore the DPP's reputation for integrity will be another two crucial tasks.
Meanwhile, Lu said that the central standing committee has formulated a proposal to ask Yu to try his best to persuade Lin to change his mind about leaving the DPP.
"It would be `a pity and a shame' to see Lin leave the DPP and I hope that Chairman Yu will spare no effort in persuading Lin to stay after taking up the chairmanship," Lu said. "How to handle the fallout if Lin does depart is also an important issue."
Lu added that she will visit Lin "at an appropriate time" and that maybe she will found a fellowship for former chairpersons.
Lin is the third former chairman to quit the DPP. The party's fifth chairman, Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), withdrew from the party in 1999 to run as an independent in the 2000 presidential election. The sixth chairman, Shih Ming-teh (施明德), also left because he disagreed with President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) opinions about the Cabinet.
Lu will hand over the reigns to Yu in a ceremony to be held this afternoon at the DPP's headquarters. Chen and new Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The pan-blue camp leaders, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Meanwhile, the DPP has decided to nominate former Chiayi mayor Chen Li-chen (
A by-election will be held to fill the vacancy left by the KMT's Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠), who had to give up the post after winning the Chiayi mayoral election in last month's local government elections.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union intends to nominate Ling Tzu-chu (
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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