The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday began the second-stage signature drive for its UN referendum bid after the proposal passed the first-stage review by the Central Election Commission on Tuesday.
Calling the commission's approval a great encouragement, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun told a press conference that the party hoped to collect more than 1 million signatures by the end of October.
"This [the referendum] will be a great help to normalize the nation," he said, urging the public to participate in the signature drive.
The party submitted more than 90,000 signatures to the commission on May 21, comfortably exceeding the 0.5 percent of eligible voters -- or 83,000 people -- threshold for a referendum proposal to be established.
Although the Cabinet's Referendum Review Committee rejected the proposal on June 29 on the grounds that "referendums were reserved for controversial issues of public concern," the DPP appealed the decision and won a ruling in its favor from the Cabinet's Appeal Committee on July 12.
By law, in order to hold the referendum alongside next March's presidential election, the DPP will have to collect endorsements from more than 5 percent of eligible voters -- about 830,000 people -- by November.
The DPP Central Standing Committee (CSC) also passed a resolution yesterday to suspend the rights of members who do not meet their quotas for the second-stage signature campaign.
Members will have their membership rights suspended for a period ranging from three months to two years depending on how badly they miss their quotas.
The party said presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had to collect 20,000 signatures, Yu was given a quota of 10,000, legislative candidates must collect 5,000 and DPP city and county chiefs are each responsible for getting 7,500.
Yu said the CSC passed the resolution amid concerns that some members would not go all out collect signatures for the referendum.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it