Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) leadership of the party appears to have been cemented last night following elections for two key DPP bodies held after a session of the party congress.
Supporters of the two-term chairperson are believed to have won at least six of the 10 seats in the DPP’s Central Standing Committee and seven seats in the 30-member Central Executive Committee, sources said.
The two bodies are seen as major indicators of support within the party, holding the authority to determine party candidates for the 2012 legislative and presidential elections. The committees also hold the power to decide the DPP’s future direction and pass resolutions.
The election came as further confirmation of the direction in which the reform-minded Tsai is taking the party.
Observers said she had received wide recognition within the DPP for leading the party to victory in three recent elections. Tsai won her re-election campaign for party chairperson with 90.29 percent of the vote in May.
In the Central Executive Committee elections, supporters of former Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who is running in Taipei City, are believed to have won five seats and supporters of former Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) three.
Hsieh took the highest number of votes in the executive committee and the standing committee elections, at 17 votes and four votes respectively.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) also won a seat in the executive committee, though she failed to take a seat in the more important standing committee. Speaking to reporters, she denied she was behind a bid to put herself in the standing committee, saying she did not vote for herself despite being on the ballot.
The youngest member of the standing committee is Mark Ho (何志偉), a 28-year-old DPP candidate for Taipei City councilor. Meanwhile, party veteran DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) narrowly missed losing his spot on the standing committee, having lost an election draw after tying with seven candidates.
Former acting Banciao City mayor Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) gave up his standing committee seat for Chen after what is believed was a personal phone call from Su.
In related news, the DPP party congress unanimously approved a resolution yesterday urging former DPP chairperson Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄) to rejoin the party to boost its chances ahead of the year-end special municipality elections.
Lin, a key figure of the democracy movement, withdrew from politics a decade ago, despite successfully leading former President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) election campaign to victory in 2000. He withdrew from the DPP, a party his movement helped found, in 2006.
Former DPP Legislator Derek Chen (陳金德), who proposed the resolution, said Lin represented homegrown values of honesty and selflessness, which would aid the DPP in the Nov. 27 elections.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
STAY COOL: The HPA recommended that people stay hydrated, use air-conditioning or fans while indoors, wear loose-fitting clothes and walk in the shade while outdoors Employers must implement measures such as installing cooling equipment, and providing drinking water and rest breaks for outdoor workers starting from Monday next week, the Taipei Department of Labor said on Sunday. Employers who fail to comply could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), the department said. Businesses in Taipei employing fewer than 100 workers, as well as registered self-employed workers with labor insurance coverage, could receive on-site assessments and guidance from occupational safety consultants to help them apply for central government subsidies to implement or improve heat-protection measures, it said. Under the Ministry of
RSS