Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members yesterday ridiculed the party’s list of legislator-at-large nominees, which critics described as the worst lineup in history.
Prior to a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee yesterday afternoon, committee member Yao Chiang-lin (姚江臨) told reporters that while he dared not criticize the list as the worst in history, its rankings were undeniably unfair to grassroots workers.
“The Social Democratic Party gave its labor representative the top spot on its legislator-at-large list, while the Democratic Progressive Party put its in 14th place. However, the KMT placed Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions director-general Chuang Chueh-an (莊爵安) 19th,” Yao said.
Photo: CNA
Yao said workers and farmers were the reasons the KMT was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, forcing it out of China in 1949, and why it lost the 2000 presidential election.
The KMT has not learned its lesson and still disregards grassroots workers, Yao said, adding that the list included too many unfamiliar names and too few people who have made contributions to the party.
Central Standing Committee member Hou Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) gave the list a score of 60 percent, saying that although the KMT leadership moved Chuang from 22nd spot to 19th, he was still excluded from the “safe list.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“If the nominees were selected for the purpose of boosting the KMT’s election prospects in the 2018 mayoral and county commissioner elections, then why are so many of them not running for a regional seat in the legislature?” Hou said, referring to Chu’s plan to recruit candidates from the list for the local elections in 2018 after they have accumulated experience during the first two years of their four-year legislative term.
“I beg of you, higher echelons of the KMT: Please give the party a break,” Hou added.
Committee member Tseng Wen-pei (曾文培) said the KMT leadership should explain its criteria for choosing the nominees, as many of them might serve as the party’s “small Cabinet” in the legislature should it lose power next year.
“The KMT’s 211-seat Central Standing Committee is to vote on each of the nominees tomorrow [today]. No one has ever been removed from the list by the committee, but I am not so sure about that this time,” Tseng said.
According to KMT regulations, nominees who receive votes of disapproval from more than half of the committee members attending a meeting would see their nomination annulled.
The KMT’s Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) military veterans’ branch issued a press release yesterday saying it regrets the party’s decision to place Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at the top of the list.
“While the decision was made out of respect for the speaker and due to some political considerations, it nevertheless failed people’s expectation for fundamental reform of the legislature,” it said.
Legislative Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) gave a score of 100 when asked by reporters to grade the legislator-at-large list.
Asked if she was serious, Hung said: “Who still means what they say nowadays?”
Lee Kuang-yi (李光儀), a journalist with the Chinese-language United Daily Evening News, traditionally a pan-blue-leaning newspaper, called the list the “lamest ever in history.”
“There is nothing refreshing or new, only traces of wrangling between different KMT factions and pork-barrel politics. I believe no pan-blue supporter would be happy with the list,” Lee said in an editorial on Thursday.
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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