Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) is not asking people to ditch the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to help the People First Party (PFP) become the third-largest party in the Legislative Yuan, PFP legislator-at-large candidate Amanda Liu (劉宥彤) said yesterday, adding that Gou’s team aims to maximize the power of third parties.
“Gou clearly stated on Sunday that pan-green camp voters could consider voting for the TPP in the party ballot if they cannot support the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) this time,” said Liu, who was a spokeswoman for Gou while he was contesting the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary.
“He also called for support for the PFP from pan-blue camp voters if they are disappointed by the KMT’s performance,” she said.
Photo: CNA
“For moderate voters fearing that the DPP would seize an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan again, he said that they should really consider supporting the PFP,” Liu said. “I believe he would maintain this position for election day.”
Liu made the statement before joining other PFP candidates to canvass for votes from campaign vehicles.
Despite failing to secure the KMT’s nomination, Gou continued to exert his influence on politics in Taiwan by having aides enter legislative races and supporting candidates of other parties who have aligned themselves with Gou’s camp.
Evelyn Tsai (蔡沁瑜) and Ann Kao (高虹安), also former Gou aides, are legislator-at-large candidates for the PFP and the TPP respectively.
Gou would try everything to help the PFP garner more party votes, from recording mobilization messages for robocalls to canvassing for votes on the streets, Liu said, adding that they would step up campaign efforts in Taipei and New Taipei City to show that the PFP is the party that can counterbalance the KMT and the DPP.
The principle that governs the strategy of Gou’s team is to maximize the force of third parties in the Legislative Yuan, she said, adding that Gou would spend more time campaigning for the PFP, because it needs to work harder to secure more votes from moderate voters who lean toward the pan-blue camp.
Gou’s team and the PFP would further integrate campaign resources in the days remaining before the elections, so voters would see a different PFP, she said.
Gou’s team and the TPP have jointly nominated Richie Lee (李縉穎) to contest the legislative seat for New Taipei City’s Tucheng (土城) and Sansia (三峽) districts, and the team and the PFP worked to nominate former KMT Youth League secretary-general Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) to run in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和).
The two Lees are perfect examples of maximizing the power of third parties by combining the PFP, the TPP and independent candidates, Liu said, adding that they would help fulfill Gou’s promise to build a high-tech corridor in northern Taiwan.
PFP vice presidential candidate Sandra Yu (余湘) said that Gou’s robocall message would boost votes for the party, as he has a lot of supporters.
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), its presidential candidate, and Yu started canvassing votes nationwide yesterday, the party said.
“Our experience from contacting voters in person is that approximately 20 percent of people have yet to decide how they are going to vote,” PFP Department of Mobilization Director Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said. “They are generally young and remain undecided because they dislike Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) [the KMT’s presidential candidate] and are disappointed with the DPP government.”
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS