The first period of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) primary elections before nominating candidates to run for the year-end legislative elections ended yesterday, with over 126 members vying for the 89 available seats -- making this the most exciting election competition in the party's history.
"Our goal is to win 100 seats, including 89 elected from all 22 constituencies, at least nine legislators-at-large seats and two Aboriginal seats," said DPP Secretary General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄).
According to the DPP's plan, the pan-green alliance will become a stable majority in the Legislative Yuan after the December elections, if the party gets over 100 seats and its ally -- the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) -- increases its seats from 12 to 20 or more.
To organize the majority alliance, the pan-green alliance needs to win at least 113 legislator seats out of the total of 225. Seeing that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) increased his support from 39 percent in the 2000 presidential election to 50 percent this year, the DPP is confident that it could promote more of its young elite to run in the legislative elections.
The keenest competition is in the two constituencies in Taipei, where 17 candidates are competing for 10 nominations.
"Almost all the party's famous political stars gathered in the capital, not to mention that our opponents from other political parties are also all top guys," said Legislator Tuan Yi-kan (段宜康), an incumbent elected from Taipei's southern constituency.
The other DPP young elite in these constituencies include Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) -- elected from overseas Taiwanese and former head of the DPP's international affairs department, and Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) -- aide of Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and former head of the DPP's culture and information department.
Some senior Taipei councilors, who have been invited to join the Cabinet or decided to run for the legislator-at-large seats also registered in the legislative primary elections.
Because Chen won reelction, a lot of senior DPP legislators are slated to join the government and leave opportunities for the young elite.
"I was told by the president this afternoon during a phone call that I will be invited by Premier Yu Shyi-kun to serve as Cabinet member, charged with diplomatic or national defense affairs," Parrish Chang (張旭成) said yesterday afternoon.
Chang, who has been repeatedly mentioned by the media as a possible choice for minister of foreign affairs, representative to the US or head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, originally plan-ned to register as candidate in the Chiayi constituency.
Lai Chin-lin (賴勁麟), who was elected in Taipei County's first constituency, withdrew from the primary elections, saying that he is willing to serve as vice chairman of the Council of Labor Affairs.
Three senior DPP lawmakers, Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Chiu Tai-shan (邱太三), have promised to join the Executive Yuan. Lo will be the new chairman of the Council for Hakka Affairs.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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