The Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) acting chairman Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday said that the DPP rank-and-file will elect a new chairman before Feb. 1.
Ker, who is also the DPP's legislative caucus whip, furthermore said that a number of the general budget bills for next year have not been passed yet and therefore the Cabinet reshuffle will not be initiated until January, since many incumbent governmental officials have to deal with the bills.
Ker also said that the DPP will come up with the details of the chairmanship election in its central executive committee meeting next Tuesday. A new chairman is expected to be announced before the Cabinet's reorganization on Feb. 1.
A DPP Central Standing Committee member, Chou Ching-yu (周清玉), who failed in her legislative re-election bid, has announced that she will campaign for the chairman's position. DPP Legislator Trong Chai (蔡同榮), who is said to also be contending for the chairmanship, yesterday dismissed this news as "rumor."
The DPP did not discuss the new chairman's required qualifications in its last national convention on Sept. 26, but the convention reached a conclusion that a new chairman will be elected by its grassroots party members when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) stepped down from the position. Because of this, Ker said that he was worried that many unqualified candidates would join in the elections.
"There will be many elections in the next two years and the new chairman has to undertake the task of campaigning for our candidates as well as consolidate the DPP," Ker said.
"Therefore, the new chairman has to have a good reputation among our supporters," he said.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who has been touted by the local media as one of the prospective candidates for the premiership, yesterday said that he supported Chen's resignation, saying that it was done according to the DPP's tradition and culture.
"I think the president's resignation as DPP chairman demonstrates his sense of responsibility," Hsieh said.
"The president has also made up his mind to become a mediator and his resignation would help him to remain detached and objective in such a role," he said.
Hsieh said that he believed the DPP's organizational system has become mature enough to allow the president to not lead the party any longer.
Commenting on the DPP's failure to win a legislative majority on Saturday, Hsieh said that the DPP did not actually lose, as the party obtained more votes and seats than in the previous legislative elections.
Hsieh said that, compared with the other parties, the DPP was the only one that performed better in these elections than in the 2001 elections.
"The DPP just failed to achieve the goal it had set itself, which, realistically, was too high to attain," Hsieh said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but