The number of signatures collected for People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) passed the threshold required to register for participating in the January presidential election, PFP officials said yesterday.
As stipulated in Article 46 of the Constitution and Article 23 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), presidential and vice presidential candidates must gather signatures amounting to 1.5 percent of voters in the most recent elections to demonstrate that the candidate enjoys popular support.
That means Soong needs 257,695 signatures to enter the presidential election.
PFP spokesperson Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) said the number of signatures in the first batch that the party is scheduled to deliver to the Central Election Commission’s (CEC) Taipei branch today likely exceed 300,000.
“We hope the CEC will not try to nitpick problems with the petitions,” he said.
As some of the petitions have not yet been processed, the PFP is also expected to turn in a second batch of signatures before Saturday’s deadline, which by law is the 45th day after Soong and running mate Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄) applied to the commission to run in the presidential and vice presidential election.
To avoid any interference as the petitions are processed before they are sent to the commission, the PFP has kept the processing location a secret.
Once the petitions are submitted to the commission, the PFP will continue to make plans for the January presidential and legislative elections, including the announcement of another wave of legislative nominees and the announcement of its legislators-at-large list.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
RSS