The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might face a rocky election campaign in next year’s local elections in Yilan and Yunlin counties and Chiayi City, DPP lawmakers said.
The DPP, which is in office in 13 of the nation’s 22 local governments, might see its electoral efforts hampered due to disunity and an underperforming mayor, according to the lawmakers.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), Yilan’s sole legislator and a likely candidate in the county commissioner election, yesterday said that at least three local officials have announced their intention to seek party nomination for the election.
The competition for party nomination had reportedly been fierce well before outgoing Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) was appointed as the Council of Agriculture minister.
“The competition is intense, but I doubt it would turn into anything like a split” within the DPP, Chen said in response to a question whether infighting might cause the DPP to lose the county.
“Next year’s election will be close, as [the DPP candidates] do not have the advantage of incumbency and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates have been preparing for the election for a long time,” Chen said.
Three KMT politicians have been campaigning for party nomination for months and each of them would be a strong opponent for the DPP, Chen said.
Local residents have been dissatisfied with the county government’s policies on farmhouse regulations, land taxes and the government’s finances, which might hurt the DPP’s re-election prospects, he said.
However, those factors might not sway the election in the KMT’s favor, as the electorate is known for being non-partisan, and it is the candidates’ quality and vision that would affect the election’s outcome, Chen said.
Chen added that he will announce in a few months whether he will participate in the commissioner race.
Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) has reportedly been at odds with DPP legislator and former county commissioner Su Chih-feng (蘇治芬) over land development and farmers’ association elections.
DPP Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), a three-term lawmaker who lost the DPP nomination to Lee Chin-yung by a small margin in the last party primary election, might challenge the commissioner.
Meanwhile, Chiayi Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) of the DPP said the possibility of Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) being re-elected is “worrying.”
Lee Chun-yi said he heard about Twu being placed on a “watch list” by the DPP, with public opinion polls showing disapproval for the mayor, but added that the DPP’s priority is to help Twu regain popularity.
“Solidarity is the most important thing for the DPP to win the election. What I am most afraid of is disunity,” Lee Chun-yi said. “The most important thing is who can win the election, rather than who will participate in the election.”
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS