The People First Party (PFP) will release part of its list of legislative election candidates today, confirming that more than 10 candidates, including former independent legislator Li Ao (李敖), will run under its banner in the January.
PFP Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) and former PFP legislator Chen Chen-sheng (陳振盛) will also be on the 10-name list to be released today, party spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) said yesterday.
The 10 candidates will run in Taipei City, New Taipei City (新北市), Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung and Kinmen County, he said, adding that more names would be announced soon.
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) will announce today’s list at a press conference, Wu said, adding that Soong would make up his mind about his own election bid after mapping out the party’s overall election strategy.
There has been speculation that the former Taiwan provincial governor might decide to enter the presidential or legislative elections, or add his name to the PFP’s legislators-at-large list.
The PFP’s decision to run its own candidates in January has deepened the rift in the pan-blue camp between the party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Soong’s possible bid for the presidency has also been seen as a potential spoiler for Ma, who is facing a tight race against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) reiterated her party’s call for collaboration with the PFP in the legislative elections, and said the KMT would not give up on cooperation with the PFP.
“The two parties can continue negotiations on nominees and jointly nominate candidates who represent the pan-blue camp via a fair mechanism,” she said.
She said Ma had contacted Soong’s secretary last week to arrange a meeting, but the PFP chairman said through his secretary that the timing was not right and any meeting should be between the two parties’ secretaries-general.
The KMT has completed its legislative nomination process in 69 electoral districts and is scheduled to complete the process in the remaining six districts by the end of this month. It has proposed holding negotiations with the PFP on candidates in undecided districts via polls. However, the PFP has been reluctant to respond to the idea.
The PFP hopes to win at least 5 percent of the vote — the threshold for securing legislator-at-large seats — by nominating at least 15 candidates in the legislative elections.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
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