Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday denied that the KMT has demanded that the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) make concessions of any kind regarding the presidential candidate opinion polls.
Chu made the remark after the two parties yesterday failed to agree on who would lead the ticket in a joint presidential bid for January’s elections. Initially, the results of a poll-of-polls regarding a joint KMT-TPP presidential ticket was to be announced at 10am.
The point of contention between the parties is how many of the nine polls are considered valid and what margins of error are to be set for these polls, Chu told a press conference at 11am.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
According to Chu, if all nine polls are taken into consideration, the ratio of support for the KMT’s Hou You-yi (侯友宜) running as the presidential candidate and the TPP’s Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as the running mate would be 8-1.
However, the TPP-nominated polling expert refused to use three of the polls, which put the valid number of polls at six, with the rate of support for a Hou-Ko pairing at 5-1, supporting a Ko-Hou pairing, Chu said.
The TPP-nominated expert also insisted on setting the margin of error at plus or minus 1.5 percentage points, which would put the ratio of support for the Hou-Ko pairing and the Hou-Ko pairing at 3-3, Chu said.
The KMT was of the opinion that all nine polls should be considered valid, Chu said, adding that a poll’s margin of error depends on its collected samples.
If a poll received 1,068 valid responses, the margin of error would be set at plus or minus 3 percentage points, Chu said as an example, adding that if a poll were to have 2,000 valid responses, then its margin of error would be plus or minus 2 percentage points, 3,000 responses at plus or minus 1.74 percentage point, and 4,250 responses at plus or minus 1.5 percentage point.
Chu said he had told Ko on Wednesday that the issue of percentage points should be set aside, and that if a poll fell within the margin of error, it would be considered a vote for the Hou-Ko pairing.
Ko himself had said that if the polls were within the margin of error, he would willingly accept running as the vice presidential candidate, Chu added.
Chu urged both sides to meet as soon as possible to settle this “minor dispute” and focus on winning the election.
Chu did not directly respond to the media’s questions about whether the TPP was playing “number games,” stating that both sides should observe the rules they had agreed to.
Both sides should keep the greater interests of the state and the public in mind, he said, adding that he has been contacting both sides since early yesterday morning, hoping to facilitate a sit-down to resolve the issue.
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
Taiwanese who have recently traveled to China for tourism, to visit friends or relatives or for business reasons have been interrogated, detained and faced other forms of unreasonable treatment from Chinese officials, a source said on Sunday. Among them was a Taiwanese who was detained for eight hours at an airport in China due to their research, which is related to religion, while others have had their travel documents for China canceled for a number of reasons, the source said. In July, China expanded the scope of its counterespionage law, and recently announced a draft amendment to the law on the protection
RSS