The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) unveiled its legislator-at-large line-up yesterday, revealing that three contenders who have been labeled and boycotted by a group of deep-green supporters as "DPP bandits" are no longer shoo-ins for the seats.
The list for the year-end legislative elections was announced after the party worked out each candidate's score, calculated by weighting the results of the May 6 party member vote at 40 percent and the results of a public poll conducted between Monday and Wednesday at 60 percent.
Former Council of Hakka Affairs chairman Lo Wen-chia (
The DPP is expected to secure 12 legislator-at-large seats. Because the Constitution stipulates that no less than half of legislator-at-large seats must go to women, and a DPP regulation stipulates that a commission led by the party chairman may select one-third of the candidates, the three may not secure seats.
Hong, a leader of the party's disbanded New Tide faction, said he "accepted" the results, but added that the results were a reflection of the party's adoption of a polling system that had excluded "blue" supporters and swing voters.
"Failing once doesn't mean failing forever," Hong said in response to a question about the relatively poor performance of many members of the once-influential faction in the primary.
Hong said that if the party enlisted him, he would like to run for the DPP in districts that are pan-blue strongholds where no other party members are interested in campaigning.
Hong, Shen and Lo were among those labeled the "11 bandits of the DPP" in a campaign launched by deep-green grassroots supporters who called on DPP members to boycott them in the primary because they had openly criticized the party.
The support rate for Lo was 11.75 percent in the public poll, the top score, but he failed to place among the first four on the list as he garnered only 3.24 percent of party member vote.
Lo, who was one of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) proteges, drew ire from some DPP supporters last December after he criticized Chen and the party's handling of corruption allegations involving the first family.
Shen said the line-up was not surprising.
"Actually the line-up was exactly what the party leaders wanted, as the exclusionary polling system was sure to bring about this result," he said. "People who are courageous enough for self-reflection and who have openly criticized the party are all out."
The first four male nominees on the DPP's legislators-at-large list are DPP Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Huang-liang (
On the party's list of female candidates, Council of Hakka Affairs Vice Minister Chiu Yi-ying (
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test