Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing’s (楊秋興) announcement that he will run as an independent has not shaken the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) confidence on its chances in the Greater Kaohsiung elections.
Releasing a poll yesterday, the DPP said the entry of the two-term commissioner in the race would actually take more than a third of pan-blue supporter’s votes from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
If the elections were held tomorrow, the DPP’s candidate, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), would win by a more than 30 percent margin, with 53.7 percent of the vote, against 22.6 percent for Yang and 15.3 percent for Huang.
While Huang would still obtain 38.5 percent support among pan-blue voters, Yang would follow a close second with 34.2 percent. On the other hand, the county commissioner would only receive 15.8 percent support from pan-green voters against 80.8 percent for Chen.
Hopes for an 11th-hour breakthrough were dashed after Chen’s campaign was unable to reach an agreement with Yang that would see him continue on with the party, despite the commissioner speaking with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Saturday, amid hopes of reconciliation.
Yang is the first prominent politician to defect from the opposition party since DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) became leader two years ago. The party is only starting to get back on its feet following a series of devastating electoral defeats in 2007 and 2008.
The move, along with concerns among DPP circles that it could also trigger a defection from Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), will undoubtedly cast questions on Tsai’s leadership as she leads the DPP into what is seen as a mid-term election before the 2012 presidential elections.
Fears that Hsu could also launch an independent bid have heightened in the past week after a number of sources close to him were reportedly caught saying that he would make an announcement on Sunday.
Speaking yesterday, Hsu spoke highly of Yang and criticized both the DPP primaries and the party’s Greater Tainan candidate, William Lai (賴清德). However, he did not confirm the reports that he would also run outside of the party.
Tsai also left Hsu’s future moves to the imagination yesterday, saying that while the DPP was staying on top of new developments in Tainan, it did not want to “talk too much about it to avoid impacting the negotiations.”
Possible intervention by the KMT has been cited by the DPP as a reason behind Yang’s decision. DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said they had received reports that KMT politicians in the area had been working to create a split between Yang and Chen.
“It was made clear early on that the KMT has been attempting to influence the DPP party primaries,” Lin said.
The comments have led to speculation that the KMT could give up its own candidate to elect Yang, remarks that KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) denied yesterday.
Speaking on the split, King said the opposition should avoid blaming its own “household problems” on the KMT and that he would take personal responsibility if the DPP could prove the allegations.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
RSS