New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Tuesday said that he would support his legislative office director, Lai Chia-lun (賴嘉倫), if he decides to run for legislator, following speculation that Lai could replace him as the party’s candidate in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
“Lai is the best in my office, perhaps better than most incumbent legislators in terms of his ability to draft bills, conduct interpellations and fight corruption,” Huang said on his Facebook fan group page.
If Lai decides to run, “I would of course support him,” Huang wrote.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
As for his personal plans, Huang said he has promised voters to be a legislator for four years and he takes his responsibility seriously.
Asked about the rumors that he would run for office, Lai yesterday said that he would formally respond at a news conference on Tuesday next week.
Records on the Control Yuan Web site show that Lai on Monday applied to set up an account at the Bank of Taiwan’s Sijhih branch to receive political donations as a legislative candidate. The application has already been approved.
NPP member Chen Yu-fan (陳雨凡), who is running for the Xinyi-Songshan legislative seat, said on Facebook on Tuesday night that Huang was causing confusion in the party by not announcing his plans sooner.
With the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections just 150 days away, the NPP has yet to decide whether to support President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) re-election bid and collaborate with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to pool votes in the legislative elections, Chen said.
“This is because members respect Huang too much, to the point that they keep waiting for him to decide whether to run for re-election in Sijhih,” she said. “Huang should accept responsibility for the way things have turned out.”
By delaying decisions on key issues, party members have undermined the NPP’s democratic procedures, she said.
If the party’s decisionmaking committee would rather run the risk of helping the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) win seats in the legislature than collaborate with the DPP, it should make its stance known, she said.
In that case, “I would make a decision about whether to leave the party,” she added.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS