Despite the National Assembly's resolve to push for the suspension of the next Assembly elections, the main political parties yesterday continued to nominate candidates so that they are prepared in case the election goes ahead anyway.
The DPP, in fact, completed its nominations, while the People First Party (PFP) made further progress towards that end.
The nominations are being put forward as a precaution in the event that the Assembly does not succeed in the goal mandated by the major party caucuses -- namely, marginalizing the Assembly and cancelling all future elections.
That goal was agreed to following a decision in March by the Grand Council of Justices that invalidated two controversial constitutional amendments made by the Assembly last year, one of which extended its own term by more than two years.
The Council's decision in turn mandated the Central Election Commission to order an election for May 6.
In the DPP's nomination process, incumbents were given priority during a six-hour meeting of the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) yesterday.
"Nearly 99 percent of incumbents who registered for candidacy were nominated," said DPP secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun. "The nomination is not for winning the election, but for the constitutional reform of abolishing the National Assembly," he said. "Therefore the abolishment of the National Assembly and the ceasing of deputies' functions will be the major platform of our candidates."
The CEC made a number of additional resolutions yesterday to ensure the achievement of those stated purposes.
The resolutions state that the party's candidates should advocate the abolishment of the National Assembly, and if elected should struggle for such a goal. In addition, incumbent deputies should be present at the currently proceeding National Assembly session, and vote according to the decision of the party caucus. If this does not happen, the resolution stated, their nomination will be revoked.
"Those who violate these resolutions should be considered expelled from the party," Yu quoted the CEC resolution as saying.
The DPP has nominated 107 constituency candidates. At the top of the list of 61 at-large candidates -- whose election is to be based on a party proportional representation system -- is former party chairman Yao Chia-wen (
During a PFP meeting yesterday, nominations were finalized for constituencies in six cities and counties, for a total of 14 candidates.
Yesterday's meeting was only the first stage of nomination and will be followed by more meetings, said party spokesman Chin Ching-sheng (
Local media reported yesterday that Hsu Kuo-tai (
"At the meeting we did not discuss the cases of related constituencies. We do not know about Hsu," he said.
"Wang's wife has enrolled for candidacy, but the case is not yet examined," Chin said.
The National Assembly passed a resolution on Saturday asking the Central Election Committee to put off the impending National Assembly election, which is currently scheduled to take place on May 6.
The resolution requested that the election be put off until the fate of the Assembly is made clearer by decisions to be made at the ongoing session.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS