Both the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have set central Taiwan as the key battleground in the approaching nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29.
With that in mind, some of the DPP’s candidates in the region, including Greater Taichung mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Changhua County commissioner candidate Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) and Nantou County commissioner candidate Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), have seen their campaigns revolving around themes of regional governance and integrated construction.
In addition to attending joint campaign events, the trio have also appeared in a campaign advertisement promoting their plan to build a “common living circle” linking the three administrative regions.
Their cooperation has proven to be effective, putting further pressure on their KMT rivals, a high-ranking DPP member said, citing the candidates’ strong performances in recent opinion polls.
However, the DPP’s latest analysis shows that while Wei leads his main opponent, the KMT’s Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏), in polls, organization and coordination are the latter’s strong suit and that former Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmaker Huang Wen-ling’s (黃文玲) running for Changhua County commissioner could impede Wei’s attempts to draw all the support he can get from the pan-green camp.
As for the Yunlin County race, the DPP’s Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) has lost his lead in opinion polls and now has nearly the same level of support as his KMT rival, Chang Li-shan (張麗善).
The same trend has also been observed in the outlying county of Penghu, where the DPP’s Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) has also lost the edge over his KMT opponent, Su Kun-hsiung (蘇崑雄), because of the latter’s effective strategic planning.
According to a source with close ties to the higher echelons of the DPP, who requested anonymity, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) came up with the concept of “regional governance” in her Platform for the Coming Decade when she was vying for the presidency in 2012.
“Tsai meant for the concept to address the problems of unequal distribution of government resources as a result of the sudden upgrade of five administrative regions into special municipalities in 2010, as well as the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor,” the source said.
A DPP campaign staffer said the party headquarters proposed the regional governance concept to Lin Chia-lung, Wei and Lee Wen-chung in the latter half of this year and that the trio readily accepted the idea.
“Now that the concept has proven to be a workable strategy, the party has recommended its Yunlin County commissioner candidate Lee Chin-yung, Chiayi City mayor candidate Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) and Chiayi County commissioner candidate Helen Chang (張花冠) to follow suit,” the staff member said.
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data
The Supreme Court today rejected an appeal filed by former Air Force officer Shih Chun-cheng (史濬程), convicted of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage, finalizing his sentence at two years and two months for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法). His other ruling, a ten-month sentence for an additional contravention, was meanwhile overturned and sent to the Taichung branch of the High Court for retrial, the Supreme Court said today. Prosecutors have been notified as Shih is considered a flight risk. Shih was recruited by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence officials after his retirement in 2008 and appointed as a supervisor
RSS