Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) lost the party’s legislative primary to Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), the son of former KMT vice chairman John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), by more than 10 percentage points.
The KMT yesterday released primary poll numbers for Taipei’s third electoral district, which covers Zhongshan (中山) and Songshan (松山) districts.
Lo, 44.624 percent of support, lost the primary to Chiang Wan-an, who held 55.376 percent.
Photo: CNA
Lo beat John Chiang in the party’s 2011 legislative primary by a small margin.
When reporters called his victory “the prince’s revenge,” Chiang Wan-an said that joining the race was his own decision, adding: “There is no such thing as a prince’s revenge.”
Lo thanked her supporters, saying the loss was "God’s will to allow her finally to rest. "
“I have not let my constituency down in the past seven years, having worked to amend laws related to people’s daily lives. I hope that I could be remembered,” she said.
She then accused the Want Want China Times Group of “systematically going after her by mudslinging and spreading rumors” because of her earlier opposition to the group’s acquisition of China Network Systems (中嘉網路).
“Who would dare tell the truth about this media group and do the right thing in the future?” she asked.
When asked whether she would run for the legislature as a non-KMT candidate, Lo said she “has much love for the KMT,” without elaborating.
Separately yesterday, KMT Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) called on the party center to revise the party charter to have Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) remain in the legislature as a legislator-at-large.
“It is possible for party representatives, central standing committee members or [KMT] legislators to initiate the [charter-amending] mechanism before the party congress set to take place on July 19,” Liao said.
“It would be a good combination for the KMT to secure the victory, with [KMT Chairman] Eric Chu (朱立倫) joining the 2016 presidential election and Wang staying in the legislature,” Liao added.
The KMT party charter states that a legislator-at-large could be re-elected only once. While having many years of legislative experience, Wang is currently serving his second term as a KMT legislator-at-large.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening 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) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) plans to take to the courts of the Australian Open for the first time as a competitor in the high-stakes 1 Point Slam. The Australian Open yesterday afternoon announced the news on its official Instagram account, welcoming Chou — who celebrates his 47th birthday on Sunday — to the star-studded lineup of the tournament’s signature warm-up event. “From being the King of Mandarin Pop filling stadiums with his music to being Kato from The Green Hornet and now shifting focus to being a dedicated tennis player — welcome @jaychou to the 1 Point Slam and #AusOpen,” the
RSS