Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) yesterday said he had applied and been granted permission to hold a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13, ahead of the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 14.
Ketagalan Boulevard, in front of the Presidential Office, is a popular site for large campaign rallies. Both the pan-blue and the pan-green camps have been trying to get permission to use the boulevard, and there have been a number of minor physical and verbal confrontations between supporters of the -different camps when lining up to file their applications.
In addition to getting permissions for rallies on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13, the KMT has also obtained permission for rallies on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8, because the pan-blue camp sent at least eight people to line up for applications.
When reached for comment yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that the party was not bothered by not obtaining a permit to hold a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard on Jan. 13.
“We are only interested in securing final victory in the [Jan.14] elections,” he said.
DPP officials said the party plans to hold a large rally on Jan. 13, the route of which will run from Sijhih District (汐止) in New Taipei City (新北市) to Zhongxiao E Rd in downtown Taipei. Details of the event, as well as other large campaign rallies, are still in the planning stage, DPP said.
With just 30 days to go until the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections, the DPP on Wednesday launched a nationwide campaign to ramp up appeal for the votes of women and other grassroots supporters.
The DPP, which is traditionally strong in many local communities has started street canvassing at 1,000 traditional markets around the country, with many of the party’s senior members participating in an effort to court undecided voters.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) said that the Ma camp also plans to hold a number of large campaign rallies around Taiwan during the last week before election day.
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