Voters will make their own decisions in Jan. 11’s legislative elections, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said yesterday after Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislator-at-large nominee Tsai Pi-ju (蔡壁如) predicted that Huang would not secure a legislator-at-large seat.
Tsai, a close aide of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — who is TPP chairman — told a radio show that the NPP would be unable to garner enough votes to get Huang an at-large seat because its support in polls is only about 5 percent.
Even if the NPP receives a little more than 5 percent of the party votes, it would only secure two at-large seats, Tsai said, adding that Huang is fourth on the party’s nominee list.
“It would be better for people not to waste their vote,” Tsai said.
“Their goals can be achieved through the TPP,” she said.
Tsai said that she respects Huang and that the TPP had wanted to place him first on its at-large list.
Huang said that he respects Tsai’s opinion, but it is up to voters.
“It is a democratic system — voters will make their own decisions,” Huang said, adding that he would increase public support for the NPP through hard work and concrete policy goals.
“For the legislative elections, the NPP has explained its goals and policy plans in a responsible manner,” including plans to promote judicial reform and social justice, he said.
Later yesterday, Ko told reporters that Tsai’s remarks were “too aggressive and unnecessary.”
From a friend’s perspective, Huang should be first on the NPP’s list, Ko said.
He understands that Huang’s position on the list is NPP strategy to attract more votes, but “the risks are too high,” Ko said.
Separately, NPP Secretary-General Wu Pei-yun (吳佩芸) said that political parties should earn public support with hard work “instead of giving arrogant instructions to people on how to vote.”
The NPP would continue to work on improving its policy plans and keeping the ruling party in check, Wu said, adding that parties should do the same to create better platforms to discuss.
Additional reporting by CNA
RULES IGNORED: CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang said that crew members who break the rules would be required to complete the full 14-day quarantine Three EVA Airways flight attendants were fired last month and this month after they failed to follow the government’s quarantine requirements. This was the first time that flight attendants have lost their jobs for quarantine failures. One flight attendant reportedly breached the quarantine mandate by going to school, visiting relatives and dining with friends, while lying to the company about her activities, EVA Air said. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) have established disease prevention measures for cabin crew members, such as monitoring their health and reporting their temperature daily, the company said. While on flight duty, crew
LOOPHOLES: The people behind biased media content produced by a Chinese network, likely without sending staff to Taiwan, remain anonymous, a source said Beijing’s latest attempt at psychological warfare through heavily biased online media is aimed at sowing discord and polarizing Taiwanese society, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. The council’s comment came in response to Chinese network Southeast Television, which late last month began broadcasting an online program featuring commentary by Taiwanese unification supporters that authorities suspect was filmed illegally in Taiwan. To circumvent cross-strait regulations, the broadcaster collaborated with online service provider Baidu to air the series titles Diverse Voices From the Taiwan Strait (台海百家說). Only Taiwanese are shown on camera, without revealing the host, interviewer or production team. In one video, political commentator and
A group of overseas Taiwanese in Norway are taking a case on their national identity to the European Court of Human Rights — with plans to file the case in the first half of next year — after Norway’s Supreme Court rejected their appeal to change their listed nationality from “China” to “Taiwan,” Joseph Liu, a Taiwanese lawyer living in Norway, told reporters on Monday. One of the initiators of the movement, “My Name, My Right,” Liu and his group plan to hire lawyers from the UK and France who know European law and have knowledge of Asia to represent them,
SUPPRESSION: Michael Tsai, a former defense minister, said that Beijing’s list of Taiwan independence advocates contravenes the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights The best way to respond to threats from China against Taiwan independence advocates is for the president to publicly reiterate Taiwan’s sovereignty, former minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said on Sunday. Chinese media on Nov. 15 said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was compiling “a list of stubborn Taiwanese separatists and will severely punish them in accordance with [China’s] Anti-Secession Law and hold them accountable for their actions for the rest of their lives.” Chinese media subsequently accused Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of being a “first-rate war criminal,” because of his policy on mask exports. “The vast majority
RSS