Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) yesterday said that he would resign to prepare for next year’s Tainan mayoral election, calling on DPP lawmakers intending to contest the post to resign their seats to avoid abusing government resources for their personal campaigns.
Lee said his resignation was to ease concerns that his position might gain him an advantage in the DPP’s nomination race.
“Some rivals have expressed displeasure over my involvement as deputy secretary-general in the mayoral campaign and they have pressured President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) [who also serves as DPP chair],” Lee said.
“To protect the party and keep Tsai from being involved in things that are insignificant to the president, I have decided to resign, which shows my determination to win the party’s nomination,” Lee said.
The DPP is expected to hold a primary election in March next year to nominate candidates for next year’s mayoral and county councilor elections.
DPP legislators Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) and Wang Ding-yu (王定宇), as well as former Tainan deputy mayor Yen Chun-tso (顏純左), have declared their intentions to join the party’s primary for Tainan, with DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) also expected to enter the race.
An opinion poll released on Tuesday by Chinese-language online news outlet My-Formosa.com ranked Huang as the most popular candidate with an approval rating of 44.5 percent, followed by Chen at 29 percent, Wang at 28.9 percent, Yen at 25.7 percent, Yeh at 23.6 percent and Lee at 14.7 percent.
As Tainan is a DPP stronghold, the candidate who secures the party’s nomination is expected to win the mayorship, as the poll showed that New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) received an approval rating of only 18.7 percent.
“The accuracy of the poll can be debated, and whether there is any political motivation behind the poll is also open for discussion,” Lee said.
Lee, who was born in then-Tainan County and served as a legislator representing the region from 1996 to 2012, won the DPP nomination to run for county commissioner in 2009.
However, the county commissioner election was canceled after the central government merged the county with then-Tainan City to create a special municipality.
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
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS