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
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is