The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will turn its attention to central Taiwan next week for a four-day celebration of its founding, despite the political turmoil in the legislature.
Several events have been scheduled in Greater Taichung, Nantou County and Changhua County from Wednesday to Saturday next week to celebrate the anniversary of its founding on Sept. 28, 1986, and to drum up support in a region seen as the key battleground in next year’s seven-in-one elections.
While the three cities and counties are governed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the DPP is optimistic that it could win any of them if recent developments in those places work in its favor.
The KMT has expressed concerns about retaining the three constituencies, with Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) and Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) both embroiled in corruption scandals, while Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu’s (胡志強) performance has been criticized.
Top DPP members are scheduled to attend the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday, which will be held in Greater Taichung instead of Taipei, and then move on to Nantou County and Changhua County on a two-day inspection trip of DPP-governed townships, districts and villages. They will then return to Greater Taichung for a massive rally at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, DPP spokesperson Wang min-sheng (王閔生) said yesterday.
“With the theme of ‘New green deal,’ the idea of this year’s anniversary is to show people that the DPP has always been able to have good governance both at the local level and the national level,” Wang said.
At a recent four-part forum the party conducted a review of its performance when it was in power between 2000 and 2008, and concluded that it deserved to be proud of its achievements, even though there were many areas where it could have done better.
However, the DPP does have one problem in central Taiwan — a surplus of would-be candidates for next year’s elections.
Changhua County has emerged as one of the most fiercely contested constituencies, with five DPP members showing an interest in becoming the party’s nominee for county commissioner, including Legislator Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷); former county commissioner Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠); former legislators Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀) and Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁); and Changhua Mayor Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富).
DPP headquarters asked former party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to mediate between the aspirants, but the rivals decided on their own to try and whittle down the list of potential candidates by commissioning several one-on-one opinion polls.
Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀) and Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁) have agreed to conduct a telephone survey on Thursday and Friday next week, while Wei Ming-ku and Chiu Chien-fu are set for a telephone poll on Oct. 7 and 8.
Strong competition is also expected in Greater Taichung, where legislators Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), and former presidential running mate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) have all said they are interested in running for mayor.
In Nantou County, Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) and two former lawmakers, Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) and Tang Huo-shen (湯火聖), are expected to fight to be the party’s candidate for the post of county commissioner.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS