High candidate security deposit fees to stand in elections unfairly disadvantage young candidates, Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance legislative candidate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) said yesterday.
“The security deposit threshold is far too high, fundamentally serving to shut out talented young people and keep them from running for office,” she said.
The NT$200,000 deposit to register to stand in district legislative elections is several times greater than the average monthly salary of most young people, she said.
Central Election Commission Division of Electoral Affairs Director Chuang Kuo-hsiang (莊國祥) said candidates are required to pay the deposit to discourage frivolous candidacies, adding that the money is refunded if candidates receive more than 10 percent of the vote in their district.
Lu appeared with fellow alliance candidate Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) outside the Taipei City Election Commission yesterday prior to officially registering their candidacies, calling for electoral reforms to “break the golden chains” of money politics.
They said based on official records, their opponents — Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Alex Fai (費鴻泰) — spent NT$25 million (US$762,707) and NT$40 million respectively during the previous election cycle, more than 10 times the amount that they themselves had raised relying on individual contributions. They called for reforms to forbid the use of party-owned property and investments to be used to subsidise campaigns.
The alliance itself requires candidates to pay for party expenses up to what is legally permissible, as it is easier for individual candidates to raise money, Lu said.
She said that while party candidates can share expenses, they are not permitted to give money directly to the party prior to elections.
Miao said that her opponent’s fundraising efforts put her at a disadvantage.
“While I can only afford NT$1 packets of tissue paper, Lai can afford NT$10 packets of wet wipes,” said Miao, referring to gifts emblazoned with candidate information which are given out to voters.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS