The Central Personnel Administration (CPA), the government agency in charge of civil servants, last night issued a rare press release encouraging civil servants to cast their ballots in the legislative by-election in Taipei’s Da-an District (大安) on Saturday.
The move prompted criticism from pan-green lawmakers, who accused the government of violating administrative neutrality.
Also included in the statement was a call for civil servants to abide by a bill designed to maintain their neutrality that was passed by the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee on Thursday.
CRITICISM
Slamming the move, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kao Jyh-Peng (高志鵬) said the appeal was “an obvious attempt to canvass votes for Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛),” the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate in the by-election.
“It’s really pathetic that the CPA, a government agency supposed to remain neutral as a model for civil servants, has become an organizational unit of the KMT,” Kao said.
“As Da-an district is a constituency where a large portion of the residents are civil servants, the move by the CPA shows that the KMT is worried that Chiang may lose the by-election,” Kao said. “The KMT is hoping to avoid a repeat of its failure in the legislative by-election in Miaoli County on March 14.”
ELECTION LOSS
Kao was referring to the KMT’s loss in the Miaoli by-election in which their candidate narrowly lost to independent candidate Kang Shih-ju (康世儒).
Miaoli is viewed as a pan-blue stronghold and the DPP did not have a candidate in the by-election.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-Sheng (吳育昇), on the other hand, said the CPA did nothing wrong in issuing the statement as it did not ask civil servants to vote for Chiang.
“It’s quite normal for the CPA to call on civil servants to vote,” Wu said.
RESIGNATION
Saturday’s by-election is being held following the resignation of former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) in January over a dual-citizenship controversy.
Six candidates have registered for the Da-an by-election — Chiang of the KMT, the DPP’s Chou Po-ya (周柏雅), Calvin Wen (溫炳原) of the Green Party Taiwan and independent candidates Yao Li-ming (姚立明), Liu Yi-chun (劉義鈞) and Cheng Yuan-chi (陳源奇).
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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