The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) potential candidates for the 2020 presidential election are sparring over the rules for the party’s presidential primary.
KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) on Wednesday dismissed calls within the party to select its presidential candidate through public opinion polls only, rather than a combination of opinion polls and surveys among KMT members.
Wu, who is rumored to be interested in running for president next year, said the KMT had tried before to decide its candidate based solely on public opinion polls.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
However, not only had the polls been inundated with suspicious votes, but the candidate who was nominated based on the results was later replaced after more than 800 KMT representatives voted to support the change, Wu said.
He appeared to be referring to an incident in October 2015, when former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) replaced then-deputy legislative speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2016 elections.
Chu on Dec. 25 last year said he intended to vie for the KMT’s presidential nomination.
On Friday, he said that the 2016 race was not the only time the KMT had used opinion polls, as they had been used in some mayoral and county commissioner elections.
“[Deciding a candidate] based solely on public opinion polls will be a more acceptable method to the public,” Chu said, adding that he believes all party members would be able to unite in their support for candidates as long as they are selected using a fair and open mechanism.
Wu yesterday said that the KMT had tried using an array of methods to decide its candidates, including using public opinion polls only, votes among party members, votes among party representatives, and a combination of public opinion polls and party member surveys.
The method most preferred by the party’s candidate hopefuls would be open to discussion, he said, adding that nominating a candidate based on party members’ votes would be similar to the mechanism adopted by the US.
“There is no right or wrong method. As long as we choose the most appropriate method at the time, that is the right method,” he said.
A survey published by the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank on Dec. 20 showed that in a hypothetical two-legged race against President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Wu would be the only one of three possible KMT candidates who could not beat Tsai.
The other two candidates were Chu and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
KMT Organizational Development Committee director Lee Che-hua (李哲華) on Friday said that the party would use public opinion polls only if the method is preferred by more than half of the candidate hopefuls.
Otherwise, the party would use a combination of opinion polls and party member surveys, with their results weighing 70 percent and 30 percent respectively, Lee said.
A Taipei veterinarian is urging pet owners to avoid using insecticides around their homes, as their ingredients can be toxic to pets. Commercial-grade insecticides contain pyrethroids — organic compounds similar to natural pyrethrins, pesticides produced by flowers such as chrysanthemums — in quantities that are harmless to humans, but potentially fatal to cats and dogs, Asian Veterinary Specialist Referral Center veterinarian Chua Man-ling (蔡曼琳) said. Even in small quantities, pyrethroids are hazardous to cats, as they lack the metabolic enzymes needed to process them, Chua said. Cockroach sprays and ant traps are especially dangerous to pets as they contain boric acid, she
DOING ENOUGH? The HPA budgets NT$1.3 billion to prevent the health hazards of tobacco, but has no separate budget to fight teen drinking, a doctor said The government should step up alcohol education and prevention efforts, and allocate more of the budget to it, doctors said on Friday, citing the high consumption of alcohol among Taiwanese adolescents. One out of four 12-to-17-year-olds has consumed alcohol, said Yen Tsung-hai (顏宗海), director of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Department of Clinical Toxicology. The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) budgets NT$1.3 billion (US$43.9 million) annually to prevent the health hazards of tobacco, but it has not allocated a separate budget for preventing teenage drinking or excessive alcohol use, Yen said. “There is no so-called ‘safe drinking level’ for minors,” because any amount consumed
DREAMING OF TRAVEL: About 7,000 people applied for the experience, with about 60 chosen for the first flight yesterday, which includes boarding an airplane Starved of the travel experience during COVID-19? Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) has the solution — a fake itinerary where you check in, go through passport control and security, and even board the aircraft. You just never leave. The airport yesterday began offering travelers the chance to do just that, with about 60 people eager to get going, albeit to nowhere. About 7,000 people applied to take part, with the winners chosen by random. More fake flight experiences are to take place in the coming weeks. “I really want to leave the country, but because of the pandemic, lots of flights cannot fly,”
The Fancy Frontier manga and anime expo held in Taipei over the weekend has sparked controversy, after a participant allegedly contravened the Act on Offenses Against Sexual Morality (妨害風化罪) by publicly exposing her private parts during a photo shoot. The two-day event opened at the Expo Dome at the Taipei Expo Park on Saturday, attracting numerous comic and anime creators, cosplayers, photographers and fans. Allegedly, a female cosplayer who was not wearing any underwear lifted up her skirt and revealed her private parts at an outdoor photography area near the venue. Event organizers said yesterday that to prevent indecent exposure, they have since
RSS