Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday presented young leaders who the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has nominated for next year’s legislative elections, including DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), a former Sunflower movement leader.
Lin is to contest Taipei’s Third Electoral District, which covers Zhongshan District (中山) and part of Songshan District (松山), after the nominations were approved at a meeting of the party’s central executive committee.
Lin joins other Sunflower movement figures — former New Power Party spokesman Wu Cheng (吳崢) and New Taipei City Councilor Tseng Po-yu (曾柏瑜) — as candidates after their nominations were announced last week.
Photo: CNA
Wu and Tseng are to represent the DPP in New Taipei City legislative elections.
Party officials said it was good to see young leaders joining the DPP.
The “new faces” would bring rejuvenation and many had a “baptism by fire” during the Sunflower movement, officials said, adding that the torch was being passed from older politicians to the next generation to further push for reform and deal with issues related to young people.
Besides Lin, the DPP yesterday approved Taipei City councilors Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) to run in the city’s fifth (Zhongzheng, 中正, and Wanhua, 萬華) and eighth electorate districts (Wenshan, 文山) respectively.
“Lin and Wu participated in activist movements when they were university students,” said Lai, who is the party’s presidential candidate. “They spent time and energy to advocate for societal issues, and show concern for Taiwan’s future.”
“In the past few years, they have worked at the local community level and served the party,” he said.
“I want to win this race so the legislature would have one more seat that embraces the global voice and has confidence in Taiwan’s future,” Lin said. “It would have one less seat for the opposition, which capitulates to China’s demands, and uses fear and intimidation to derail Taiwan’s progress.”
He is running to unseat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇).
“In my recent visit to Washington, US officials said that they are very concerned about the choices Taiwanese will make next year, so we must share our message with the world about what we want for Taiwan’s future” Lin said. “Taiwan’s legislators are key to letting the international community hear our voice.”
Other DPP nominees included Kaohsiung City Councilor Lee Po-yi (李柏毅) for the city’s Third Electorate District (Nanzhih, 楠梓, and Zuoying, 左營); Taoyuan City Councilor Liu Jen-chao (劉仁照) for the city’s Fifth Electoral District (Pingjhen, 平鎮, and Longtan, 龍潭); and former Jhunan (竹南) mayor Kang Shih-ming (康世明) for Miaoli County’s First Electoral District.
The DPP has a “Grand Democracy Alliance” strategy to unite forward-thinking personalities and positive energy from society to safeguard Taiwan, reinforce democratic values, and boost for peace and prosperity, Lai said.
The strategy has a “Y+DPP” plan for nominating candidates, including some from outside the party, to contest “tough constituencies,” he said.
“Y” stands for “Generation Y” — Millennials — or people born between 1980 and 1996.
The outstanding talent nominated in these two rounds have a bright political future and would pose a challenge in tough constituencies that are traditionally KMT strongholds, he said.
“Our party cherishes these young leaders, as they have ideals of progress and the energy to help society develop and prosper,” he added.
The challenges they present are the driving force pushing the DPP forward, Lai said, adding that their vision is for a future that the DPP and the nation want.
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