New Power Party (NPP) legislative candidate Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) yesterday registered his candidacy for the Hsinchu district seat, following the failure of efforts to “integrate” with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
“We showed a huge amount of good faith by putting out the possibility of integration polls, but that was not something we could make happen on our own,” Chiu said. “Prior to the official registration, there was always a possibility of using polls to integrate, but that possibility fell apart after [Ker] registered on Monday.”
“Integration” refers to an ad hoc primary process under which competing candidates agree to withdraw from the race and support whoever ranks highest in a negotiated set of surveys.
Photo: Wang Chun-chieh, Taipei Times
Ker last week was quoted in the Chinese-language media as saying that integration was a “fake issue” used for “electoral manipulation.”
“We will keep moving forward on our set course,” Chiu said, adding that while reform of the Legislative Yuan will remain one of the pillars of his campaign, his focus would be on the system, not Ker’s role as the DPP caucus whip.
Chiu has been critical of role that cross-party negotiations — often conducted behind closed doors — play in the passage of legislation, while Ker has said that such discussions are a necessary measure to solve deadlocks on the legislative floor.
Ker yesterday dismissed concerns that having two pan-green candidates in the race would deliver a victory to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐), citing last year’s Hsinchu mayoral election that saw DPP candidate Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) elected even though former DPP mayor Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅) ran as an independent in the race.
Hsinchu is now the sole legislative district to have both a DPP and a NPP candidate in the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, as the parties were able to coordinate on the nominations for most of the other district seats where there was an overlap.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS