Former People First Party (PFP) legislators and supporters yesterday presented a signature drive to show their support for PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), urging him to join the presidential election.
Led by former PFP legislators Kao Chi-ming (高資敏) and Yang Fu-mei (楊富美), the group said a signature drive to support Soong’s presidential bid has collected 1185,760 signatures, and Soong should respond to the passion of his supporters by running against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Kao criticized both the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nomination of Ma, which was confirmed by clapping from central committee members, and the DPP’s nomination of Tsai via polls as inappropriate, and said voters should have more choices in the presidential election.
“The signature drive showed the passion of Mr Soong’s supporters, and we are hoping that Mr Soong can join the presidential election and lead us to a better future,” he said.
Calls for Soong to join the presidential election have emerged after the PFP chairman indicated that he might run for president or join the legislative election to boost the PFP’s morale in the upcoming elections.
The PFP is expected to win at least 10 at-large and constituency legislative seats, and is aiming to start a “Quiet Revolution” ending bipartisan confrontation in the legislature.
On the TVBS (2100全民開講), on Friday evening, PFP legislative candidate Chen Cheng-sheng (陳振盛) said Soong has decided on his running mate. However, he did not elaborate.
Despite emerging support for Soong, however, no PFP officials or legislative candidates, including Chen and former PFP legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), appeared at the event yesterday.
At a separate setting yesterday, PFP spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) said the PFP was thankful for the support, but said Soong has yet to finalize his decision on whether to join the presidential election.
New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明), who earlier this week criticized Soong’s presidential bid, saying it damaged pan-blue unity, said Kao should reveal all the names on the signature drive to prove its authenticity.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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