A pro-independence group requested yesterday that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) establish a democratic and scientific system for use in its presidential primary.
The Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP) made the call yesterday ahead of today's DPP Central Standing Committee meeting, where the party is to adopt a proposed survey dictated by the Presidential Office.
Association chairman Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) told the committee to veto the plan and adopt their system instead.
"We are very disappointed with how the DPP selects its presidential candidates," he said. "They made the decision behind closed doors and the entire process was consumed by factional interests and resource allocation."
Tsay also called on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to refrain from appointing his successor and asked the DPP to establish a system that is democratic and free of factional infighting.
The DPP's proposal won the backing of Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), while Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun were kept in the dark.
Lu and Yu's supporters believe the design of the poll favors Su and Hsieh and plan to file a motion at today's meeting challenging the format. Opponents of the proposal stand a chance of turning the tide if the committee were to give the go-ahead for a party National Assembly.
Tsay yesterday asked the party to redesign the primary system so debates are mandatory and opinion polls scientific.
DPP regulations stipulate that the president and the vice president are selected by a party member vote and a public opinion poll. While the party member vote counts for 30 percent of a candidate's total score, the opinion poll contributes the remaining 70 percent.
The survey format suggested by the Presidential Office is designed to exclude voters who do not usually vote for the DPP in presidential elections, while surveying only pan-green and swing voters.
As the DPP has launched a signature drive to force a referendum on reclaiming the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) stolen assets, Tsay proposed polling only signatories of the campaign, most of whom were likely to be DPP supporters.
The DPP must collect 900,000 signatures to make the petition valid, but has only gathered 80,000 so far.
If it cannot reach the target, Tsay said he would mobilize his members and DPP supporters to abstain from the legislative and presidential elections.
"Before we vote them into the legislature and the Presidential Office, they must make themselves useful and do something for us," he said. "We refuse to be their pawns. We are supporters of Taiwan, not of the DPP. We cannot guarantee the DPP's victory, but we can ensure their defeat."
Tu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), vice chairman of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance, said the DPP's primary system was flawed.
The DPP must overcome the problem of figurehead voters in the 30 percent party member vote and replace the design of the 70 percent opinion polls with a more scientific format, he said.
Tu proposed putting questions in the survey to filter out "fake" DPP supporters and divide the results into five segments of the political spectrum: dark blue, light blue, neutral, light green and dark green.
The percentages each candidate received in the five portions would then be multiplied using different weighted values. The candidate who received the highest score would be the winner.
In related news, Su yesterday said he would be happy to have Yu, Lu or Hsieh as his running mate in next year's presidential election if he won the party's primary, but would not say if he would be willing to be the running mate of another candidate.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition