The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) finalized its nominations for legislators in the northern Taipei constituency with the conclusion of a public opinion poll yesterday.
The competitive area saw nine contestants battle for five nomination slots. The nominations were decided with party member votes counting for 30 percentof the decision and public opinion polls counting for 70 percent.
The five candidates who will be nominated are Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Lin Chung-mo (林重謨), Taipei City Councilor Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), former Taipei City Councilor Kao Chien-chih (高建智) and former director of the DPP communications department, Phoenix Cheng (鄭運鵬).
The northern Taipei constituency consists of six districts -- Shihlin, Peitou, Sungshan, Hsinyi, Neihu and Nankang.
Among the five, Hsiao received the highest score in the opinion poll, with a support rate of 30.27 percent, followed by Cheng with 14.79 percent, Lin 14.11 percent, Hsu 11.14 percent and Kao 9.81 percent.
The competition for the nominations was intense, and was marked by fighting over factional endoresments
Cheng, who used to be a protege of Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) -- the leader of the Welfare State Alliance (福利國系) -- failed to win Hsieh's support in the primary. Hsieh chose to support the other two members of the faction: Hsu and Kao.
Without the backing of the faction, Cheng scored poorly in the party member vote.
But he did well in the public opinion poll and this secured his nomination.
He also won support from Justice Alliance Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (
The New Tide Faction also suffered a setback in the northern Taipei constituency as Taipei City Legislator Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) was crowded out from the five safest nomination slots, finishing at No. 6.
The northern Taipei constituency will elect 10 legislators, and pan-blue competition is fierce, as many candidates in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party have signed up for their parties' primaries as well.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS