The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is to elect a new chairperson on Jan. 6, and party members who plan to run for election can sign up beginning in the middle of this month, the party has announced.
The DPP Central Standing Committee on Wednesday last week elected Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) as acting chairman after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) resigned from the party’s top post over its losses in last month’s nine-in-one elections.
The committee is on Wednesday to lay out the timeline for electing a new party chairperson.
The new chairperson would face the task of tackling legislative by-elections scheduled for next month.
Their performance over the next two years would also affect the DPP’s chances in the presidential and legislative elections in 2020, a party source said on condition of anonymity.
DPP members who have been called to run for chairperson include Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who was re-elected last month, Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and former legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who unsuccessfully ran for Kaohsiung mayor, the source said.
Although most of the people who have been encouraged to run for chairperson are middle-aged, Tsai on Saturday said their views about the direction the party should take reflects those of most party members.
While local media last week reported that senior party members supported Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) for chairman, the party has since reconsidered the option due to negative public response to the reports, the source said.
Tsai’s term as party chairperson was originally due to end on May 20, 2020. Under the party’s statutes, after a chairperson steps down, if the remaining term exceeds six months, a chairperson must be elected by party representatives nationwide.
VACANT SEATS
The Central Election Commission has announced that legislative by-elections for two seats in Taipei and Taichung are to be held on Jan. 26.
The winners would fill the seats left by former DPP legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), who gave up his seat to run for Taipei mayor, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taichung mayor-elect Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who resigned as legislator on Nov. 20.
The commission is also to hold legislative by-elections for three seats in Changhua, Tainan and Kinmen, but the dates have yet to be announced.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS