New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) was re-elected as party executive chairman yesterday, following repeated delays and rumors of internal party tension.
“Today we held a chairmen’s meeting and, based on our decision, I will continue to serve as the party’s executive chairman,” Huang said in a news conference following the meeting, adding that the decision was unanimous.
His re-election follows a reshuffling of the party’s board of chairmen about two weeks ago, in keeping with party charter provisions mandating new leadership elections after every national election.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Huang said that important decisions would be made by a larger decisionmaking committee composed of the seven party chairmen, along with the conveners of eight different internal policy and work committees.
When asked if there had been conflict over the party’s direction, Huang said: “Everything about the party’s operation is conducted in accordance with the party charter.”
He said that mandating a separation between the party’s internal leadership and national legislators would require the decisionmaking committee to revisit the party’s charter, adding that each of the party’s national legislators would take responsibility for local leadership in their assigned districts.
Neil Peng (馮光遠), former NPP legislative candidate who was also elected to the board of chairmen, called for the executive chairmanship position to be awarded to someone other than the party’s legislators to preserve the party machinery’s independence from legislators.
He said he accepted the result of yesterday’s meeting, which had been delayed by his demand that every member of the board be present before an official meeting could be held.
When asked about his party’s plans to remain relevant and avoid the fates of other small parties such as the New Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union, Huang said his strategy would focus on continuing to produce high-quality legislation while cultivating young people to participate in the 2018 local elections.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS