A month before the local elections on Nov. 26, Chang Jung-jung (張容榕), who had registered as a candidate for mayor of Hualien County’s Fuli Township (富里), withdrew from the race and changed her household registration, citing family reasons.
However, her announcement that she was withdrawing was not heeded and she won the election, becoming mayor-elect. [There is no process to remove a candidate’s name from ballots.]
A by-election is to be held to fill the position.
Elsewhere, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominated Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) as its candidate in the legislative by-election for the capital’s third electoral district made vacant when Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) resigned to focus on his ultimately successful bid for Taipei mayor.
Wang’s decision to seek the legislator’s post despite her candidacy as a councilor — a post she was re-elected to last month — has caused controversy.
The KMT and Wang have been accused of playing with elections and fooling voters, but their actions do not contravene any election regulations, while Chang’s exit was also done in a legitimate manner.
However, the chaos in the aftermath of the Hualien and Taipei situations should not be repeated.
Elections require a lot of administrative and social resources. Without laws to regulate the actions of parties and candidates who do not respect the spirit of democracy, Chang’s and Wang’s situations might recur.
The Executive Yuan, the Central Election Commission and the legislature must review these incidents completely and revise the law accordingly.
Tien Fong-wen
New Taipei City
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) concludes his fourth visit to China since leaving office, Taiwan finds itself once again trapped in a familiar cycle of political theater. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has criticized Ma’s participation in the Straits Forum as “dancing with Beijing,” while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) defends it as an act of constitutional diplomacy. Both sides miss a crucial point: The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world. The disagreement reduces Taiwan’s
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is visiting China, where he is addressed in a few ways, but never as a former president. On Sunday, he attended the Straits Forum in Xiamen, not as a former president of Taiwan, but as a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman. There, he met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Presumably, Wang at least would have been aware that Ma had once been president, and yet he did not mention that fact, referring to him only as “Mr Ma Ying-jeou.” Perhaps the apparent oversight was not intended to convey a lack of
RSS