The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced its candidates for nine cities and counties governed by DPP members, with the party opting to nominate all nine mayors and commissioners for re-election.
The nine incumbents are: Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and Penghu County Commissioner Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復).
“Taiwan deserves recognition and improvement. Our [DPP] mayors and commissioners, as well as the [DPP] government and legislative caucus, are a united team,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“The nomination today is just a start. We will form the best campaign team to improve Taiwan and create happiness,” Tsai said.
The nomination did not come as much of a surprise, although there was speculation that a couple of candidates — notably Twu, whose approval rating is low — might be replaced.
Reports said the party tried to persuade Twu to give up his candidacy to make way for DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), but failed.
“The speculation and opposition against [my candidacy] suggest that I am the most competitive,” Twu said.
He added that his approval rating has rallied and should continue to climb as his nomination should quell the conflict within the DPP and ensure a coordinated campaign effort.
Doubts have also been cast on the re-election bid of Lee Chin-yung due to a rift with DPP Legislator Su Chih-feng (蘇治芬), a former Yunlin County commissioner who has considerable local influence.
Su on Monday wrote on Facebook that she would keep Lee Chin-yung at a distance and that their relationship soured immediately after he was sworn in three years ago.
Lee Chin-yung said he would talk to Su about the disagreement, while assuring that Su would assist the party in the election.
Lee Chin-yung vowed to develop public long-term care services and seek central government funding to help older people and the county, while continuing to carry out existing agricultural and “green” energy policies.
The DPP also plans to announce its nominees for four other DPP-governed municipalities: Tainan, Kaohsiung, Yilan and Chiayi County, where competition for the nomination is the most acute.
It took director Chong Keat Aun (張吉安) nearly a decade to complete Snow in Midsummer (五月雪), a deft chronicle of Malaysia’s May 13 incident told through one woman’s search for her brother and father. Although only his second feature, it led the field at yesterday’s Golden Horse Awards with nine nominations. Chong said it had been a struggle to get people to share their memories of the intercommunal violence following the 1969 national election, known among the country’s ethnic Chinese community as “513.” “My father, for example, would shut the conversation down if my mother or grandma even mentioned the topic,” Chong said
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said that a surge in respiratory illnesses in China has been caused by at least seven types of pathogens, and small children, elderly people and immunocompromised people should temporarily avoid unnecessary visits to China. The recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses in China is mainly in the north and among children, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said on Monday. Data released by the Chinese National Health Commission on Sunday showed that among children aged one to four, the main pathogens were influenza viruses and rhinoviruses, while among children aged five to 14, the main pathogens
A new poll of Taiwanese voters found the top opposition candidate for president jumping past the ruling party’s hopeful into the lead position ahead of January’s election — the latest twist in a drama-filled race. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had an approval rating of 31.9 percent versus 29.2 percent for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), ranked third with 23.6 percent, according to the survey conducted
A New Taipei City hotpot restaurant could be fined after a rat dropped from the ceiling and landed on a customer’s plate last week, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday after conducting an inspection. A woman recently posted on the “I am a Banciao resident” (我是板橋人) social media group saying that she had been eating with a friend at Chien Tu Shabu Shabu Hotpot Restaurant’s Shuangshi B branch in Banciao District (板橋). “While still eating, a big rat suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, landing on a plate next to a hotpot,” she said. “Later on, a member of
RSS