The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will begin a two-day telephone poll tomorrow to choose the party’s presidential nominee.
According to the design of the poll, each of the party’s three presidential hopefuls — Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) — will be paired against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and respondents will be asked which of the two (Ma or the DPP hopefuls) they would support in the presidential election next year.
POSSIBLE SCENARIOS
According to the rules of the comparative poll, four possible scenarios are expected.
In the first scenario, one of the three candidates would emerge as a clear winner, polling above or equal with Ma’s rating.
In the second scenario, more than one of the three candidates would poll better than Ma, in which case the DPP would choose the candidate with the highest poll result as its presidential nominee.
For example, if the three candidates’ individual poll against Ma showed that Candidate A scored 39 to Ma’s 37, Candidate B scored 38 to Ma’s 35 and Candidate C scored 40 to Ma’s 42, the party’s presidential nominee would be Candidate A, according to the rules of the telephone poll.
Although Candidate C has the highest overall rating, this candidate would be dropped from consideration because he or she failed to top Ma’s rating. In addition, while both Candidate A and Candidate B beat Ma in the poll, Candidate A has the higher rating of the two, so Candidate A would win the DPP primary.
In the third scenario, all three candidates’ approval ratings would rank below Ma’s and the party would choose the person who had the highest rating.
In the fourth scenario, the first three scenarios could not be applied because there would be a ratings tie between two or all of the presidential hopefuls.
In such a scenario, the party would use the gap between the candidates’ ratings and Ma’s, choosing the candidate who either beat Ma by the most or trailed him by the least.
POLLSTER
The DPP will randomly select five of the seven institutes in the nation who conduct polls to carry out the telephone survey between 6:30pm and 10pm tomorrow and Tuesday.
The poll would be extended for a day if there aren’t enough valid samples from the first two days of polling.
The winner of the telephone poll is expected to be announced on Wednesday at the earliest.
MEET AND GREET
In related news, at a gathering yesterday with a group of foreign nationals living in Taiwan, Tsai said there are generally a total of 13 million to 13.5 million votes cast nationwide.
While the DPP and the KMT each could probably garner about 6 million votes in the election, Tsai said the remaining 1 million to 1.5 million votes are up for grabs and the DPP is targeting those voters in the hope they will vote in favor of the party.
As long as the DPP remains united, it is possible that the party could win the presidential and the legislative elections next year, she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LIN SHU-HUI AND RICH CHANG
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data