The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is on Wednesday expected to officially nominate former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as its New Taipei City mayoral candidate for the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, a party source said.
The DPP is expected to make the announcement following a meeting of its Central Executive Committee, they said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the DPP chairperson, on April 12 met with Su after the party’s executive committee and the Electoral Strategy Committee recommended Su as the party’s candidate for New Taipei City mayor.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
Su agreed to represent the party, and during the meeting spoke by telephone with former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃), who had until then been supported by a number of the DPP’s New Taipei City councilors to represent the party in the election.
Yu in 2014 ran for New Taipei City mayor on the DPP ticket and lost by 24,528 votes.
On April 12, he wrote on Facebook that he fully supports the party’s decision to pick Su as its candidate.
During their telephone conversation, Su and Yu agreed to meet, the source said.
Party members at all levels support Su’s candidacy, and his campaign is being supported by DPP Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) and DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), the source said, adding that his campaign team has been allowed to draft party members from government agencies to join its efforts.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Jason Liu’s (劉建忻) office director Lee Huai-jen (李懷仁) and Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) office director Huang Chih-ta (黃致達) would also take temporary leave from their posts in the second half of next month to join Su’s campaign team, the source said.
Su has scheduled meetings with New Taipei City Council Speaker Chiang Ken-huang (蔣根煌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), as well as DPP caucus members within the New Taipei City Council, for Thursday.
New Taipei City Council Deputy Speaker Chen Wen-chih (陳文治) of the DPP said the mayoral race is heating up, adding that Yu has been helpful in getting his supporters within the council to rally behind Su.
Chen Wen-chih said that, with the party’s choice of Su as its nominee, grassroots supporters are finally starting to feel satisfied, adding that his popularity stems from his work at the grassroots level over the past several years.
Meanwhile, a source from the KMT said the party’s nomination of former New Taipei City deputy mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its candidate in the mayoral election would have repercussions for its overall success in the nationwide elections.
In response to media queries about whether he is worried that he would be “uprooted,” given that Su is to visit Chiang on Thursday, Hou yesterday said he has known Chiang for seven years and is on good terms with him, adding that the visit is a polite gesture.
“I am not even a little bit worried,” he said.
Hou’s campaign team has new media and publicity staff, and is being assisted by members of the New Taipei City Government, the KMT source said, adding that the party only needs to strengthen a few weak points in its team.
However, KMT Organizational Development Committee Director Lee Che-hua (李哲華) said that while Hou is familiar with the city government, New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) and civil servants in the city government would not help Hou’s campaign in line with the principle of administrative neutrality.
Additional reporting by Lin Liang-sheng, Chen Hsin-yu and Shih Hsiao-kuang
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS