New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) on Thursday was elected as party chairwoman, replacing Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華), who resigned in the aftermath of the party’s poor performance in last year’s local elections.
Wang was elected by the party’s new 15-member decisionmaking committee, after all its members joined Chen in resigning.
Wang on Thursday said the election setback has not deterred the party’s hopes.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Wang is to assume the top post on March 1 for a two-year term.
Wang said the NPP’s losses last year should be considered a public rebuke requiring a post-election review along with bolstered efforts to regain public trust.
The NPP, Taiwan’s fourth-largest political party, formed in early 2015 and was elected to 16 seats on city and county councils in 2018. That number dropped to six last year.
The party last year received 0.61 percent of votes cast for county commissioners and mayors, and 1.56 percent of votes cast for city and county council seats.
As the presidential and legislative elections approach next year, Wang said she plans to push for reforms, including expanding the party’s social ties, building consensus within the party, proposing viable economic policies to improve people’s livelihoods and forming an election campaign team.
The NPP elected 15 new decisionmaking committee members on Feb. 12.
Among those elected were Chen, Wang and former NPP chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智).
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he
RSS