The Taiwan Action Party Alliance (TAPA) yesterday announced that it has begun the dissolution process.
The decision followed the announcement on Jan. 12 by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the party’s spiritual head, that he was withdrawing from politics.
TAPA failed to win any seats in Jan. 11’s legislative elections. It received 143,617 votes, or 1.01 percent of the party vote.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu,Taipei Times
Under election regulations, only parties that garner at least 3 percent of the party vote are entitled to government funding; and only those that receive 5 percent of the vote can obtain legislator-at-large seats.
TAPA said in a statement on Facebook that its members on Sunday reached a decision to dissolve the party, as outlined by its own rules.
From yesterday, the party ceased accepting membership fees and donations, it said.
To finalize dissolution, a task force has been formed to handle its accounting and registrations, as well as other work, the party said.
“We would like to pay our highest respect to our supporters, as well as express our most sincere gratitude and apologies to them,” it said.
Party members would continue to work for Taiwan with the same spirit, it added.
TAPA was founded in August last year and has advocated Chen’s stance of “one country on each side” of the Taiwan Strait.
The party nominated Chen as one of its legislator-at-large candidates, but the Central Election Commission disqualified his listing, citing the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which prohibits people who have been convicted of corruption from registering as a candidate.
Chen was sentenced to 20 years in prison on a series of corruption charges and is on medical parole.
“As the ‘gardener’ of TAPA, I feel deeply ashamed to have allowed this little tree to wither,” Chen said on Jan. 12.
After spending a night engaged in deep reflection, he decided that he could no longer contribute to the party or Taiwan, he said.
“From this day on, I would withdraw from politics. Thank you and good bye,” he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS