Yen Kuan-hen (顏寬恆), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate in today’s legislative by-election in Greater Taichung’s second district, yesterday made a last-minute plea for voter support, while the pan-blue camp expressed confidence in his victory.
Yen’s father, former Non-Partisan Solidarity Union legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), accompanied his son on a campaign motorcade to solicit support around the city.
Yen Ching-piao said that while the by-election is a tough battle, his son should benefit from a higher voter turnout as more people are expected to cast their votes in the neck-and-neck race.
Photo: CNA
He dismissed the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) attempt to promote the by-election as a vote of no-confidence in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) governance, and said that he was confident about local support for his family because he has earned support across party lines in the past with his dedicated service in Taichung.
Yen Ching-piao, whose elected status was revoked after he was found guilty of corruption, has enjoyed long-term support in the electoral district, and the KMT nominated his son for the by-election with the aim of continuing the pan-blue camp’s influence in the area.
Meanwhile, the DPP, which is seeking victory in the traditional pan-blue stronghold, has garnered party heavyweights, including DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), to campaign for its candidate, Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱).
Photo: Liao Yau-tung, Taipei Times
While the by-election is seen as a crucial battle ahead of the local government elections next year, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, has been absent from Yen Kuan-hen’s campaign.
Ma, who has seen his approval rating fall to record lows, is also facing challenges to his re-election bid as party chairman. The latest survey released by the Chinese-language newspaper China Times showed that 49 percent of the 823 respondents said they do not support Ma’s re-election bid, and 58 percent said they were not satisfied with his performance as KMT chairman.
The poll, conducted on Wednesday, also found that 48 percent of respondents thought that Ma doubling as the KMT chairman in the future would help neither the party nor his government’s performance.
Chiang Shih-liang (江士良), director of the KMT’s Greater Taichung branch, dismissed concerns about Ma’s absence from the by-election campaign, and said that the DPP’s attempts to emphasize political confrontation in the by-election was not a smart strategy, as local voters cared more about the candidates’ dedication to local development.
Yen Kuan-hen also expressed confidence in his election bid and promised to continue his father’s service in the district if elected.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS