The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters yesterday shrugged off proposals by two candidates in the party’s May chairperson election to revise the 3 percent signature threshold for hopefuls, saying that the ideas would not be deliberated until the party’s national congress in August.
According to statistics compiled by the KMT, the party had about 890,000 members as of Friday last week, of whom 230,000 had voting rights in the May 20 election.
Estimates say that the number would increase to 300,000 before March 31, the deadline by which candidates have to obtain signatures from at least 3 percent of all eligible party members.
That means each hopeful has to obtain about 9,000 signatures to validate their bid.
KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), both of whom have thrown their hats into the ring, have called for revision or removal of the signature requirement.
There are already far too many requirements to qualify as a candidate, such as experience as a member of the KMT’s Central Committee and a hefty security deposit, Hau said on Monday, adding that the party leadership should revoke unnecessary rules such as the signature threshold.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) yesterday said that KMT headquarters respects each candidate’s opinion about the signature threshold, but they should nevertheless “follow the rules of the game.”
“According to the party’s regulations for chairperson elections, every candidate must meet the 3 percent signature threshold,” Hu said, adding that KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) is also subject to the requirement.
If any hopeful sees a need for revision of the requirement, KMT headquarters can consider the proposal at the party’s next national congress, scheduled for Aug. 20, Hu said.
However, even if a change is made, it would not take effect until after the election on May 20, Hu said, adding that the election would have to adhere to the current rules.
Hu dismissed Hau’s concerns that some candidates might collect signatures from party members who have already signed for another to sabotage a rival’s bid.
Hu said that the party is discussing adjustments to the signature collection procedure to eliminate the effectiveness of such tactics.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is