New Power Party (NPP) legislative candidate Neil Peng (馮光遠) yesterday announced his withdrawal from the race for New Taipei City’s first district, following a breakdown of “integration” talks with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lu Sun-ling (呂孫綾).
“This is a simple decision, but the stuff involved behind it is extremely complicated,” the author and playwright said. “We’re making the largest sacrifice possible to ensure [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator] Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) is ‘out,’ but there’s no way we can identify with a DPP which has already begun to ‘KMTize’ (國民黨化).”
He said that the DPP’s decision to directly nominate Lu — despite the breakdown of “integration” talks — represented the beginning of the “KMTization” of the party because it could be attributed to the influence of local factions, along with Lu’s family’s wealth and political connections.
He added that he would not support Lu in the election.
“I will cast an invalid ballot because there is no way I can support the values of Lu Tzu-chang (呂子昌), but the voters of New Taipei City can make their own decision,” he said, referring to Lu’s father, who served as a county councilor for the former Taipei County for more than 30 years.
Peng — who fought back tears several times during his remarks — was flanked by NPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Lin Feng-jeng (林峰正), the party official who has been responsible for negotiations with the DPP.
Both Peng and Huang wore T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Wu Yu-sheng out!” from an earlier recall campaign for which Peng was the organizer.
“We have to focus on the big picture of next year’s legislative elections: Peng can withdraw, but Wu has to be ‘out,’” said Huang, adding that the party was “sad” and “reluctant” to see Peng withdraw, with differing opinions within the party pushing the decision late into Tuesday night.
After Lu “tore up” an “integration” agreement between the two parties, the NPP had originally hoped that the DPP’s central governing committee would force her to get in line, only to see it directly nominate her for the seat on Tuesday, he said.
Hsinchu is now the only remaining legislative district for which the NPP and DPP have both fielded candidates.
Huang said the party was still committed to supporting its candidate in Hsinchu, Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), adding that the “latest information” he had was that Chiu would continue his campaign unless his rival, DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), agreed to “integration” polling.
Under “integration” polling, candidates’ support is gauged through a negotiated set of surveys, with both candidates agreeing to support whoever polls highest, with the other candidate withdrawing from the race.
Official registration to appear on the Jan. 16 ballot is to conclude on Friday next week.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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