Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she expects the party’s candidates to fight for victory in all five legislative by-elections next month.
Tsai said the by-elections are “the first step toward legislative reform,” adding that if the DPP fares well, it can expect the number of seats it commands in the legislature to increase significantly in next year’s legislative elections.
The DPP originally had 40 seats in the 113-member legislature, but because three DPP legislators won their bids in the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 last year, the party’s seat count has fallen to 37.
The three former DPP legislators who vacated their seats were Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) and Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安).
Tsai expressed hope that the DPP will win all five legislative by-elections in Greater Taichung and in Changhua, Miaoli, Nantou and Pingtung counties on Feb. 7.
She has already embarked on campaign trips for the DPP candidates in Changhua and Nantou counties.
The two other by-elections are to fill the seats of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lin Ming-chen (林明溱), who was elected commissioner of Nantou County and Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌), who was elected Miaoli County commissioner.
The KMT currently holds 63 seats in the legislature.
The DPP scored a resounding victory in the nine-in-one elections, taking 13 out of the 22 city and county seats available, including mayoral seats in four out of the nation’s six biggest metropolitan areas.
The KMT suffered a humiliating defeat and saw the number of its seats reduced to six from 15.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths