The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wants people under the age of 35 and migrants to run in the councilor elections next year to fill vacancies left by former DPP councilors who were elected to the legislature or appointed to the Cabinet, a legislator said yesterday.
DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), the party’s Electoral Strategy Committee convenor, said that the committee proposed nominating younger candidates, new migrants or people who have made a special contribution to fill 11 vacancies left by former DPP councilors in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taichung, Taoyuan, Keelung and Chunghua.
There are 10 vacancies left by Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌), Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘), Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), Chen Lai Su-me (陳賴素美), Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅), Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應), Huang Hsiu-fang (黃秀芳) and Hung Tsung-yi (洪宗熠), who are former city and county councilors elected to the Legislative Yuan.
The other vacancy was left by Taipei City Councilor Tung Chung-yen (童仲彥), who was expelled from the DPP after a domestic violence scandal in February.
The DPP will nominate candidates without primary elections for the 11 seats, while in other constituencies regular primary elections will still be held.
There is no age limit for new migrant and special contributions candidates.
“The nomination principle is in accordance with the DPP’s philosophy to encourage youth participation and ethnic diversity in politics. As the first party to ensure women participate in elections, the DPP encourages pluralism in politics,” DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said.
The nomination principle might also be applied to Tainan after the redrawing of the city’s constituencies is completed, as two vacancies were left by former city councilors Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲), who have been appointed deputy minister of labor and been elected a legislator respectively.
Candidates likely to be nominated include DPP spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張志豪), former DPP Department of Youth Development director Huang Shou-ta (黃守達) and Rosalia Wu’s aide, Tai Wei-shan (戴瑋珊).
Asked whether the DPP is promoting younger candidates because of pressure from the New Power Party and the so-called “third-force,” which have a large support base among younger voters, Chen said challenges from other parties have motivated the DPP to change.
“The DPP has been improving its image by promoting younger people and introducing ethnic diversity to the party,” Chen added.
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
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and