The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday completed the nomination process for next year’s seven-in-one municipal elections for Hsinchu City and Yunlin, Taitung and Kinmen counties, with the KMT Central Standing Committee approving the candidate list.
Hsinchu Mayor Hsu Tsai-ming (許財明), Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) and Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士) will seek re-election. Former KMT legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善) was chosen to run for the Yunlin County commissioner job.
KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chun (楊偉中) said the party is scheduled to complete the nomination process in more difficult electoral zones next year, and will speed up the nomination process in cities and counties where the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has already determined its nominees.
The KMT plans to complete the second-round nominations by January, while continuing to struggle finalizing nominees in pan-green strongholds in the south
The party dismissed allegations that Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) will run in the Greater Tainan election against Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德).
For the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral race, the party plans to nominate former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsin (楊秋興).
In New Taipei City (新北市), former premier Yu Shyi-kun has won the DPP’s primary for the mayoral race. New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), a KMT member, has declined to say if he will seek an re-election.
“As mayor, my priority is to promote city development. There will be work to do when the elections approach, but now is not the time to talk about elections,” he said.
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition