The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday announced the list of hopefuls that have expressed interest in running in the five year-end special municipality elections, and said it will begin performing opinion polls and hold another round of negotiations before it finalizes its candidates.
Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫), the only one to announce his bid to represent the party in the race for Sinbei City — Taipei County’s new name after it is upgraded — is likely to be nominated by the KMT without any negotiations.
In Taipei City, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and KMT Taipei City Councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋) will be competing in the polls for the party’s nomination.
In Greater Taichung City, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), Taichung County Deputy Commissioner Chang Chuang-hsi (張壯熙) and KMT Legislator Liu Chuan-chung (劉銓忠) will be included in the polls.
The competition in Greater Kaohsiung is much more intense, as six hopefuls including Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉), KMT lawmakers Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), Hou Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳), Lin Yi-shih (林益世) and Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) and former commissioner of Taipei City Department of Labor Affairs Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) are all eyeing the party’s nomination.
As for Tainan, former KMT legislators Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) and Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財) and Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) will compete in the polls, according to the list released by the party.
KMT Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the party will start conducting polls and begin another round of negotiations based on the poll results.
The nominees for the five special municipalities are scheduled to be finalized by next month.
In related news, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that the three-in-one elections for the residents of the five special municipalities to elect mayors, councilors and borough chiefs will be held on Nov. 27.
Polling stations will open at 8am and remain open until 4pm in the five special municipalities — Taipei City, Sinbei City (the upgraded Taipei County) , Taichung City (a merger of the city with Taichung County), Tainan City (a merger of the city with Tainan County) and Kaohsiung City (a merger of the city with Kaohsiung County), the CEC said.
In response to public demand, all the municipalities decided to combine the elections to save money and simplify the administrative work required to conduct the balloting.
The current term for incumbent city mayors and councilors will end on Dec. 25, while the term for incumbent borough chiefs will end on Jan. 16, 2011.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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