Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday strongly recommended using approval ratings to select the party's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate, sparking anger from some party members, who accused him of failing to remain impartial.
Although former Council of Labor Affairs chairwoman Chen Chu (
Under the DPP's current primary mechanism, party members will vote on Sunday for their favored candidate. This will count for 30 percent in the selection process. A telephone survey of Kaohsiung residents -- scheduled for next month -- will count for the remaining 70 percent.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu said at a press conference that he had consulted some "important people" in the party about the new method and had gained their support.
"We would like to emphasize that only unity can lead to a victory and only negotiation could result in unity," Yu said. "We think that using a survey to settle on a candidate is the best way to find out the best hope for the DPP."
Yu added that the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections were crucial to the DPP's development and he was worried about the negative effect if the DPP failed to win the elections.
Therefore, Yu said, the DPP would try its best to coordinate with the three potential candidates -- DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (
"I believe that if each candidate moves backward a small step, this would help the whole party move forward a big step," Yu said.
But the New Tide faction, the largest of the DPP's factions and the one Chen Chu belongs to, responded negatively.
Former chief convener of the party's New Tide faction Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) yesterday afternoon held a news conference to question the identities of the "important people" Yu had mentioned. Tuan asked Yu to release their names, to prevent the Kaohsiung nomination from becoming the result of "secret chamber politics."
"Yu should be the judge in this game, but instead he has jumped into the game and tried to intervene in the outcome, which we think is not impartial at all," Tuan said.
Tuan urged the DPP to stick to its primary mechanism.
"If the DPP abandons its primary regulations, then I think it has lost a precious part of what it has earned," Tuan said.
Some other members of the DPP said that Yu was biased in favor of Yeh.
"I think the whole thing is because some people lack a democratic attitude," DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (
When asked about her reactions, Chen yesterday said that one of the reasons former DPP legislator Luo Wen-jia (
"Without a complete primary, Luo later had significant difficulties in winning recognition from local voters on the campaign trail, and the method was seen to have enraged the DPP's grassroots members," Chen Chu said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS