Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) completed the registration process for the Hualien County commissioner election yesterday even as his party promised to discipline members who run in the year-end elections against the party’s wishes.
Fu, who was barred by the KMT from taking part in the party primary because he was found guilty in his first and second trials in two separate cases, said the party failed to answer his request for a chance to join the election.
“I need to respect mainstream opinion in Hualien and run in the commissioner election. The people in Hualien will determine the next commissioner,” he said in Hualien.
PHOTO: CNA
Fu is the third KMT member to decide to run for the Hualien commissioner’s job.
Hualien County Deputy Commissioner Chang Chi-ming (張志明) withdrew from the party to run as an independent against KMT nominee Tu Li-hua (杜麗華).
Fu said the KMT praised him two years ago during the legislative elections for his contributions in pushing for the development of Hualien and he criticized the party for denying him a chance in the commissionership primary.
Fu is likely to be expelled from the party, as KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) has promised to strictly discipline members who insist in running in elections in violation of party regulations.
Fu was indicted on Feb. 2, 2000, for illegally speculating in Taiwan Pineapple Group stock in 1998. In 2003, the Taipei District Court sentenced him to six years in jail, fined him NT$150 million (US$4.5 million) and deprived him of his civil rights for four years. He filed an appeal with the Taiwan High Court and on June 11 the court sentenced him to four years in jail and a fine of NT$20 million. He appealed again.
Meanwhile, Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞), a KMT member, said yesterday she would not seek re-election and promised to give her full support to the party’s nominee, KMT Legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭).
Kuang’s decision prevented a pan-blue split in Taitung County.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said the party had also dissuaded hopefuls in Nantou and Yilan counties from competing against party nominees, adding that the party would continue to seek integration in the elections.
Yesterday was the last day for anyone wanting to run for mayoral or county commissioner posts in most cities and counties and for seats in city or county councils.
The elections will be held on Dec. 5. However, no elections will be held in Taipei County, Taichung County, Taichung City, Tainan City, Tainan County and Kaohsiung County because they will either be directly upgraded to the status of a special municipality or be mutually integrated into a special municipality next year.
Elections for the leaders of the new special municipalities will be held simultaneously with those for the heads of the two existing special municipalities — Taipei and Kaohsiung — late next year.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
RSS