More than 240 candidates running in the local elections on Saturday next week have signed pledges to defend Taiwan and never surrender, leaders of pro-independence groups said yesterday.
However, none of the 244 signatories are from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), they said.
“With only 10 days left until the elections, we urge voters to cast their ballot for candidates who have signed the ‘never surrender’ pledges,” Tai Nai-hsuan (戴乃宣), an official at the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, told a news conference in Taipei. “We also call on people to vote ‘yes’ in the referendum to lower the voting age and grant other adult rights to 18-year-olds.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Together with other civic groups, Tai asked the public to fight against vote-buying and to report people handing out money in exchange for votes.
People should not vote for candidates who have been charged or indicted for corruption, or those with an organized-crime background, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said.
The pledges were unveiled in September, giving candidates ample time to sign them, he said, but added that more candidates are expected to join in the last days before the vote.
Chen said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayoral candidates for Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung have signed the pledges.
Seventeen mayoral candidates for other cities and county commissioner have also signed the pledges, 15 of whom represent the DPP and two who represent the New Power Party, Chen said.
Among the city councilor candidates who have signed them, most represent the DPP, with some also running for the Taiwan Statebuilding Party.
Fifteen councilor candidates of the Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party have also signed, Chen said.
Twenty-one candidates for Taipei city councilor have signed, as well as 21 city councilor candidates for New Taipei City, nine for Taoyuan, 31 for Taichung, 20 for Tainan and 35 for Kaohsiung, he said.
Initiated by a coalition of civic groups, the pledges to “defend Taiwan and never surrender” seek “to let the world know that Taiwan is facing military belligerence from China, which threatens to invade the nation.”
“It is crucial to enhance Taiwan’s willingness and determination to fight against the enemy, and show that Taiwanese will mount a strong resistance to fight off Chinese hostile forces,” World United Formosans for Independence chairman Chen Nan-tien (陳南天) told the campaign’s inaugural event.
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