The legislature passed an amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) yesterday that lowered the threshold for the percentage of the vote political parties need to garner to receive government subsidies.
The threshold for government subsidies for parties’ campaign funding has been lowered from 5 percent to 3.5 percent of the votes a political party garners for legislators-at-large and overseas legislators, in the next legislative election.
“The subsidy ... shall be granted to the political party at a rate of NT$50 per vote every year” until the next legislative election, the amended act states.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
The amendment was proposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), who had earlier called for much lower thresholds of 1 percent or 3 percent, but compromised at 3.5 percent after encountering unyielding resistance from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
According to the statistical information provided by the Central Election Committee, the KMT, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the TSU and the People First Party are the only four parties — with 44.55 percent, 34.62 percent, 8.96 percent and 5.49 percent of the vote obtained respectively — to have received subsidies following the 2012 legislative election.
With the lowering of the threshold, the Green Party and the New Party, which received 1.74 percent and 1.49 percent of the vote in 2012 respectively, would still not be subsidized if their percentage of the vote remains the same in the next legislative election.
“While the TSU did receive the subsidy, we believe that the lowering of the threshold is crucial for the survival and the participation of smaller political parties, which are mostly public-benefit-oriented,” TSU Legislator Lai Chen-chang (賴振昌) said. “It is a major step forward in the move toward more pluralistic politics.”
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS