The results of opinion polls on Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) are to be published today as part of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday.
Chu said everything would proceed according to the established system.
The results will be closely watched by not only the KMT’s supporters, but those of the Democratic Progressive Party, which is eager to regain the presidency it lost in 2008 by getting DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) elected in January next year’s presidential race.
Photo: CNA
Hung is the only candidate to have qualified for the KMT’s presidential primary. Whether she will be nominated is to be decided by her ability to secure at least 30 percent support in the series of opinion polls conducted by three different pollsters on Friday and yesterday.
However, there have been rumors that, even if Hung passes the opinion poll test, the KMT still might not nominate her.
Over the past few days, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has hinted he would be interested in running for election if he is drafted by the party.
In response to rumors that the KMT might not nominate Hung and draft someone else instead, Chu said that, because the KMT is in the process of transforming into a fully democratic party, there are all kinds of rumors. The party still hopes to set up a system and act accordingly, he said.
“We respect all kinds of voices, but sometimes you should not take rumors seriously,” he said.
Many of the rumors are related to claims that Hung cannot win the national election and Wang would have a better chance of beating Tsai to succeed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who won for the KMT in 2008.
According to the ruling party’s regulations, Hung’s nomination is to be decided by the collective outcomes of the polls before confirmation by a convention of party delegates next month.
Each of the three polls was to be comprised of an “approval” survey designed to gauge respondents’ support for Hung as a candidate and a “comparative” survey testing her rating against that of the DPP’s Tsai.
Each of the three polls are required to garner 1,200 valid results in order for the results to stand.
Results from the “approval” and “comparative” components are to be assigned a 50 percent weighting toward Hung’s overall support rating assessment, and the final outcome would be taken from the average of the three polls.
If Hung fails to win at least 30 percent support in the polls, the KMT can decide not to nominate her and draft another candidate, according to party bylaws.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS