Independent legislative candidate Richard Chang (張承中) on Thursday announced that he was willing to participate in “integration” polling, paving the way for a partial opposition primary in the race to unseat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) incumbent Alex Fai (費鴻泰) from Taipei’s seventh legislative district.
“There are many candidates in the [constituency comprised of the] Songshan (松山) and Xinyi (信義) districts, but there is only one who will be elected,” he said “As I am a political novice who has had only two months to sell myself … if I do not even rank second now, how can I expect to fight my way to victory in the next two months?”
He said that with the “major direction” of integration polling settled, he would not “sweat the details.”
Candidates participating in integration polling agree to endorse and support whoever has the highest level of support in an officially negotiated set of surveys, with less popular candidates withdrawing from the race.
Independent candidate Yang Shi-chiu (楊實秋), a former city councilor who was ejected from the KMT in July for criticizing the party, has for months been calling for integration polling, with the Democratic Progressive Party offering to conduct the polls and endorse the winner.
Social Democratic Party candidate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔), the district’s other main opposition candidate, has ruled out integration with the other challengers because of their “pan-blue backgrounds.”
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
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