The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is scheduled to finalize the nomination of its legislative candidates tomorrow as the registration process is set to begin on Friday, the party's Culture and Information Department Director Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said yesterday.
The registration for January's legislative elections opens on Friday and closes on Nov. 21.
Independence activists yesterday urged the DPP to nominate Chen Tseng-chih (
As a DPP member for 14 years, Chen said it was a pity the DPP had not nominated anyone in that district and that she would like to give the electorate another choice aside from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Lo Ming-tsai (
Chinese dissident Ruan Ming (
With the adoption of a new electoral system for the legislative poll, Ruan said that the public wanted to see new blood in the legislature.
"I call on President Chen Shui-bian (
"Taiwan needs change and Chen Tseng-chih is the power of change representing Hakka women and the media," he said.
While the DPP seeks to lure former KMT Legislator Lee Sen-zong (李顯榮) and legislators who have been expelled from the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) to join the legislative election, Ruan said he did not understand why the DPP did not recruit Chen Tseng-chih.
Lee lost the KMT nomination in Taipei County's first district to fellow legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇). Lee protested his party's failure to pursue localization and burned his party membership card to show his determination to run in the January poll.
Lee yesterday declined to confirm whether he would join the DPP and dismissed Wu's allegation that he left after losing the party's nomination and would join the DPP.
The DPP also wants to recruit TSU legislators Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) and Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源), who were expelled for being "uncooperative" and "failing to toe the party line." The TSU has followed up by revoking the candidacies of legislators Yin Ling-ying (尹伶瑛) and David Huang (黃適卓).
Meanwhile, Yin yesterday asked her DPP rival, Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), to let opinion polls decide who should represent the pan-green camp in next year's election.
Yin had said she would run as a DPP candidate in Yunlin County's second constituency if she won in the opinion polls.
If she lost, she said she would be glad to serve as Liu's campaign chief.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
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