Fifty-three percent of the public do not think President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) should be recalled over a spate of corruption allegations, according to the results of a new survey released by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday.
The resulted showed that 34.5 percent were in favor of such a move. While 66.2 percent of respondents said the Cabinet should not be toppled, 17.1 percent of those polled endorsed such a move, the survey showed.
Of the respondents who said they were DPP supporters, 93.6 percent thought that Chen should not be recalled.
Among supporters of the People First Party (PFP), 73.4 percent said Chen should be recalled and 57.3 percent of those surveyed who said they were Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters also endorsed a recall, while 60 percent opposed it.
A separate survey conducted by the Chinese-language newspaper, the United Daily News, on the same issue showed higher support for a recall.
According to a poll it released yesterday, about 48 percent of respondents said they agreed with recalling the president, while about 36 percent were opposed. Sixteen percent said they had no comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, as the pan-blue camp gears up to launch its recall motion in the special legislative session, a group of DPP legislators yesterday urged opposition parties to stop their campaign, saying the recall motion would cause the stock market to slump and destabilize the nation.
They issued a declaration urging KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to exploit the recall motion to compete for the leadership of the pan-blue camp with PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
"The conflict between Ma and Soong is the real reason that Ma is pushing the recall," DPP Legislator Gao Ji-peng (
DPP Legislator Chao Yung-ching (
"Ma is just like a gang leader. He should pay more attention to bills that concern people's lives," Chao said.
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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