Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday announced the party’s list of legislator-at-large candidates, saying the list shows the party’s readiness to take over the responsibilities of a governing party.
“Society has more expectations of us this time, and we have more space as well, so we wanted to demonstrate a different way of thinking,” Wu said after members of the DPP Central Executive Committee agreed on the final list of legislator-at-large candidates.
“Candidates on the ‘safe’ list represent a variety of social issues: food safety; environmental protection; social welfare; healthcare; long-term care; finance and pension reform; youth entrepreneurship; agriculture; labor; Aboriginal matters; Hakka matters; culture; education; gender; children and juvenile rights; human rights; judicial reform; and transitional justice,” Wu said.
“These are the issues that the public is most concerned about, and in the future, we will depend on these legislators to push for reform and progress in their respective fields,” he added.
The party estimated that it might receive enough ballots to secure seats in the legislature for the first 16 people on the list of 34.
The top 16 candidates on the list include National Taiwan University College of Public Health associate professor Wu Kun-yuh (吳焜裕), who ranked first; Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly secretary-general Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴); long-time environmentalist Chen Man-li (陳曼麗); Taiwan Rural Front secretary-general Frida Tsai (蔡培慧); Alliance for Handicapped People secretary-general Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋); and Taoyuan Department of Indigenous Affairs Director-General Kolas Yotaka.
Incumbent legislators-at-large — such as Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君), Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) — were also on the “safe list.”
“The list shows that we are ready to take on the responsibilities of a governing party, as well as our drive to expand our support in society,” Joseph Wu said. “I would like to extend my gratitude for the passage of the list, and I hope that all will support it so we can improve our representation and capability in the legislature.”
Many veteran lawmakers and elected officials were omitted from the list, because the party wanted to recruit more new blood, DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) quoted Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who was a member of the nomination committee, as saying.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS