Cooperation among candidates from smaller political parties showed a glimmer of hope yesterday, as the New Power Party’s (NPP) Freddy Lim (林昶佐) withdrew from the legislative race in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) to make way for Fan Yun (范雲) of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In a dramatic turn of events, Lim, frontman of metal band Chthonic, declared his withdrawal within an hour of Fan officially announcing her bid for legislator yesterday morning.
Lim said he would continue his legislative campaign in another constituency in Taipei, adding that his decision would be finalized by Thursday.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
He added that withdrawing from the race could prevent the ruling “party-state interest structure” from reaping the benefits of disunity among minor parties with progressive agendas.
“Our goal has always been to bring together progressive forces and win the election,” Lim said. “In expressing openness and goodwill [toward potential allies], we require more action instead of just talk.”
The move was seen as an attempt at reconciliation, as both parties emerged from a split in the Taiwan Citizen’s Union activist group after its members encountered differences over legislative nomination mechanisms.
Earlier in the morning, Fan made official her bid to enter the legislative race for Daan, confirming months of speculation.
Along with other members of the SDP — which is to be officially launched by the end of this month — Fan vowed to introduce a new political culture centered on the public discussion of policy-oriented goals.
She said that the nation’s politics were blighted by collusion between large corporations and politicians, while the needs of underprivileged groups were constantly ignored.
Fan, a professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, has more than two decades of experience in social activism, including advocacy for women’s rights and supporting pro-democracy student movements.
As both parties were launched by veteran social activists and count prominent supporters of Taiwanese independence among their ranks, the NPP and SDP are more likely to compete for pan-green voters who lean toward the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
However, the two nascent parties have adopted markedly different attitudes toward the presidential election, which is to be held concurrently with the legislative elections in January next year.
Fan said yesterday that the SDP would not endorse any presidential candidate, as the SDP was launched precisely to voice dissatisfaction toward both major parties.
In contrast, NPP founder and human rights lawyer Lin Feng-jeng (林?正) said that his party would eventually announce its support for a presidential candidate, as “elections are always a matter of comparison.”
While the NPP has expressed its desire to forge an alliance with the DPP, Fan said that the SDP would limit its options to other minor parties, such as the environmental issue-based Green Party.
“Any kind of cooperation should be built upon common ideals; a short-term alliance based merely on winning votes does not carry much meaning,” Fan said.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as
RSS