Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has a comfortable lead over Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the race for the municipality’s mayorship, a public opinion poll released yesterday showed.
The survey was conducted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily and found that Lin had a support rate of 51.4 percent, while Hu, who is seeking re-election in November, had 33.9 percent and 14.7 percent of the respondents were undecided.
Lin’s leading margin of 17.5 percent was slightly down from the 19.9 percent margin he enjoyed in the newspaper’s previous survey in February, when he led the mayor by almost 20 percent — 53.6 percent to 33.7 percent.
Photo: Chang Ching-ya, Taipei Times
The latest poll was conducted between Friday and Saturday last week, and collected 1,087 valid samples.
Many political analysts and DPP and KMT politicians see the mayoral race in Greater Taichung as the defining battleground of the upcoming seven-in-one elections, since whoever wins that constituency will probably also take the bragging rights as the overall victor in the polls, since the DPP has always dominated the nation’s south, while the KMT claims the north as its stronghold.
In related news, DPP Department of Organization director Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) confirmed yesterday that National Taiwan University journalism professor Peng Wen-cheng (彭文正) had declined the party’s offer to run as its candidate in either the Hsinchu County commissioner or the Hsinchu mayoral races.
Peng had been hesitant to enter politics after seeing what had become of Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), saying that Jiang was former a highly renowned politics professor, but now the target of widespread dissastisfaction with his performance, Cheng quoted Peng as saying.
The DPP is trying hard to recruit Hakka candidates in the predominantly Hakka constituencies of Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City and Miaoli County, which have traditionally been the party’s weak spots.
As of now, the DPP has nominated Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) in Miaoli and former government information office minister Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) in Taoyuan. Overall, the party has completed its mayoral and commissioner nominations in 15 of the 22 constituencies.
If the remaining candidates are not selected before DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) term ends on May 20, those aspirants’ selections will be overseen by the next chairman, Cheng Yun-pen added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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