The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it is fully prepared for Saturday’s legislative by-elections, urging the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) not to stoop to vote-buying but to run a clean and fair race.
Two of the three seats up for grabs this Saturday in Taoyuan, Taichung and Taitung counties were left vacant by former KMT legislators found guilty of vote-buying.
“We call on the KMT candidates to fight a dignified battle by breaking with the KMT’s tradition of buying votes. We also urge prosecutors to monitor the races closely to prevent any chance of vote-buying,” DPP spokeswoman Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said.
The Taoyuan County Second District spot became vacant in October after the KMT’s Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) lost his seat following a conviction on vote-buying charges.
RIVAL
The KMT nominated former lawyer Chen Li-ling (陳麗玲) as its candidate to face off against the DPP’s Kuo Jung-chung (郭榮宗), a former lawmaker.
The Taichung legislative by-election will fill the seat left vacant when former KMT legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) lost his seat, also on vote-buying charges.
Taiping Mayor Yu Wen-chin (余文欽) has been chosen to run against the DPP’s Chien Chao-tung (簡肇棟).
KMT Legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭) resigned in October to run in last month’s Taitung County commissioner election, making him the seventh lawmaker in the current legislature to fail to complete his legislative term.
The KMT nominated Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) to run in the county’s by-election for his spot. That prompted claims by the DPP that the nomination was a trade-off for Kuang agreeing not to seek re-election as county commissioner.
Kuang’s DPP rival is Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成).
IN PERSPECTIVE
Hsiao said given that none of the three locations had ever elected a DPP legislator, if the DPP can win even one of the seats it will indicate that the party has made a comeback.
If the DPP wins just one seat, it will put the number of DPP lawmakers at 28 — one seat short of the over one-quarter threshold required to launch a presidential recall motion.
The DPP’s morale has improved following the party’s performance in last month’s county commissioner and mayoral elections, where it nabbed Yilan County, a key battleground viewed by both camps as a gauge of popularity nationwide.
Another three legislative by-elections are scheduled for Feb. 27 for Hualien County, Taoyuan County’s Third District and Hsinchu County.
Ahead of the polls, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been zigzagging the country along with other DPP heavyweights since last week to encourage voters to support the pan-green camp.
On the other hand, Tsai’s pan-blue counterpart, President and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), has stayed relatively quiet.
After the KMT failed to win big last month, some political commentators said Ma had lost his “Midas touch” and was bad news for candidates.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS