In remote Taitung County on Taiwan’s southeastern edge, the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections are pretty much in the bag for dozens of candidates campaigning to become city and township mayors and council members, or village and borough wardens.
In contrast to the commissioner’s race, which pits Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪), 39 candidates for village and borough warden in the county’s 16 cities and townships are the only contenders contesting their respective polls.
Making their task even easier is an electoral provision that allows them to win with just one ballot — even if that ballot is cast by the candidates themselves.
In the county councilor contests, seven candidates are campaigning unopposed, although election rules stipulate that these hopefuls will have to win the votes of one-tenth of the total number of eligible voters in their respective constituencies, divided by the number of councilor seats for that constituency.
Among the city and township mayoral polls, only the race for the rural township of Yanping (延平) remains uncontested. The sole candidate would have to win the support of 20 percent of eligible voters to get elected as head of the 3,617-person township, according to electoral rules.
On election day, voters across the nation are to select mayors for the six special municipalities; the commissioners and mayors of 16 counties and provincial cities; 375 municipal councilors; 532 city and county councilors; 198 mayors of townships and county-controlled cities; 2,096 councilors for township and county-controlled city councils; six Aboriginal district representatives; 50 representatives for Aboriginal district councils; and 7,851 village and borough wardens.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it