The Green Party Taiwan (GPT) will nominate 10 candidates for the district legislators election in January, with the list to be released at the end of the month, spokesman Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said on Saturday.
Pan said the GPT had received a 2.2 percent average voting ratio in the electoral constituencies where they had nominees during the five special municipalities elections in November, which was a “great leap forward” from the 0.6 percent the party achieved in 2008.
The party’s voting ratio reached a high of 9.7 percent in Danshui (淡水), New Taipei City (新北市), Pan said, adding that he hoped the party’s voting ratio would exceed the 5 percent benchmark during the election.
According to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法), political parties who do not garner at least 5 percent of votes for the party will not be eligible to nominate candidates for legislator-at-large seats.
Pan also said he would run for legislator in Taipei’s 7th electoral constituency against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominee Alex Fai (費鴻泰) to safeguard old trees and government-owned land by pushing for a motion to have a second municipal forest park -created in lieu of the Taipei Dome.
The long-stalled Taipei Dome build-operate-transfer (BOT) project began in 2006 when the city government signed a contract with Farglory to construct a 40,000-seat indoor stadium complex with commercial facilities at the abandoned Songshan Tobacco Factory site.
Pan said GPT central executive committee member Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) would run for the 1st constituency in New Taipei City against KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ho Po-wen (何博文) on a platform proposing the early retirement of the First and Second Nuclear Power Plants as well as more careful development of Danhai New Town (淡海新市鎮).
GPT member Lin Chen-yang (林震洋) will run for the 3rd constituency in Greater Kaohsiung against the KMT’s Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and the DPP’s Lin Ying-jung (林瑩蓉) advocating that the government keep its promise to shut down the Fifth Naphtha Cracker Plant “to heal the wounded land,” Pan said.
Pan also said that Tsai Shan-wen (蔡善雯), a participant in the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts dispatch worker protest, would run in the 4th constituency of Greater Taichung against KMT nominee Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) and DPP nominee Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅).
“We are currently trying to persuade former Changhua County Environmental Protection Union chief Lin Shih-hsien (林世賢) to run in the 2nd constituency in -Changhua County against the KMT’s Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) to ensure the implementation of the anti-Kuokuang Petrochemical Park efforts,” Pan said.
The petrochemical park was initially scheduled for construction at the Dacheng Wetlands (大城濕地) in Changhua County and was expected to expand oil refining capacity and the production of chemicals such as ethylene.
However, the project was called off when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed his opposition amid growing protests from environmentalists and local residents.
Pan said the GPT would field candidates in the northeastern part of Taipei, where the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is being built, as well as the Sijhih (汐止), Yonghe (永和) and Zhonghe (中和) constituencies, where there have been many issues involving tree protection recently.
The GPT will also seek to have candidates in Hualien and Taitung in response to what has been described as improper BOT operations by corporations over the transfer of government-owned land and the building of nuclear waste dumps on Aboriginal land.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS