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.”
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS