New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said that he would not run for chairman again next month and has not yet decided whether to run again in next year’s legislative elections.
“After much thought and consideration, I have decided not to run for a seat on the party’s decisionmaking committee and step aside from duties,” Huang told a news conference at the party’s caucus office in Taipei.
He said he had not applied to join the committee, which stopped accepting applications for registration at 12am yesterday.
Not being on the committee would disqualify Huang from taking part in the chairperson election on Friday next week.
According to the NPP’s charter, the chairperson must be on the decisionmaking committee and is elected by its 15 members.
Huang has been on the committee for two terms and chosen as chairman twice since he joined the party in 2015.
“Since the party has developed a steady foundation, this is an appropriate time for me to set aside my party duties and switch my focus to promoting reforms important to Taiwan’s future,” Huang wrote on Facebook earlier in the day.
Although there is still room for improvement, the NPP has successfully differentiated itself from the pan-green and pan-blue camps, and has built a solid political base, he said.
The party won five legislative seats in 2016, and 16 seats in the city and county council elections in last year, he said.
Opinion polls conducted earlier this month found that 12 to 17 percent of the public supports the NPP, he added.
Huang told the news conference that he hopes to see more talented members participate in running the party so that the public could come to know them better.
While it is common for minor parties to have the same chairman for many years, he has always believed that “the NPP will not and should not do that,” he said.
“The NPP is a democratic party, not a one-man party,” he added.
He would continue to work as a legislator, but would not take up the party’s caucus convener post, he said.
“If I do continue my career in politics, I would have to decide where to place myself to better contribute to issues that I care about and how I can make Taiwan a nation where everyone has an equal chance to realize their dream,” he said.
Asked by reporters if his decision not to contest the chairmanship was to take responsibility for the NPP’s loss in New Taipei City last year, or if he was considering running for president next year, Huang said no.
The decisionmaking committee election is to be held online from Monday to Wednesday next week. Sixty-four people have registered to compete for the 15 seats.
They include NPP legislators Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), Freddy Lim (林昶佐), Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) and Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, NPP Secretary-General Chen Hui-min (陳惠敏) and Taipei City Councilor Lin Liang-chun (林亮君).
While many expect Lim to be elected chairman, he told reporters yesterday that he has no plan to compete for the position.
“There are many talented young members of the party and it would be good to have a younger chairman,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the
RSS