The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) shortlisted 43 applicants from an open audition for its nominees for legislative-at-large seats, and they would be interviewed by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the party chairman and other top party members, starting on Sunday, the TPP said yesterday.
TPP Secretary-General Chang Jer-Yang (張哲揚), central committee members and central advisory committee members would join the interviews, and the final decision could be announced by the end of the month.
The audition was open to the public between Oct. 5 and Oct. 10, and the party received a total of 268 applicants, of which 86.1 percent were men, Chang said.
The majority age group of the applicants is between 36 and 40 years old, accounting for 21.03 percent, and most of the applicants hold a university degree.
Additionally, 22.4 percent have academic backgrounds eligible for being a member of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, 19 percent for the Economics Committee and 18.7 percent for the Education and Culture Committee.
The 43 finalists are between 26 and 50 years old, with 32.6 percent between the ages of 41 and 45, and 65.1 percent hold a master’s degree or higher. Ten people have educational backgrounds eligible for the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, nine people for the Economics Committee and seven people for the Education and Culture Committee.
Chang said some of the applicants have been elected representatives, legislators’ assistants, professors, accountants and lawyers.
When asked if Ko’s aide Taipei City Government adviser Tsai Pi-ju (蔡壁如) had been shortlisted for the TPP’s legislative-at-large nominees list, Chang said he had not yet received any news of it.
Responding to reporters’ questions about whether the party might cooperate with the New Power Party in the legislative election, TPP spokesperson Chen Su-yu (陳思宇) said minor parties have the power to monitor the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party at the Legislative Yuan.
The TPP would not exclude the possibility of working with other parties on some issues, but it has not discussed it yet, she said.
As for the cooperation or competition with former Hon Hai Precision Industry chairman Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) team, they said the TPP has not discussed it with Guo’s team, but if both sides nominate legislative candidates in the same constituency, they would try to negotiate and accept the possibility of cooperating on some issues.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS