The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday began its mobilization preparation for the upcoming anti-nuclear demonstration on Saturday and expressed its support for allowing absentee voting in referendums if it does not include overseas voters.
“The measure should be considered as it would uphold people’s right to exercise their civil rights,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said in response to a proposal initiated by New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫).
Other DPP politicians— including Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), director of the party’s New Taipei City office, and Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄), director of the Taipei City office — also supported the initiative, with Lo saying that the mechanism could boost voter turnout.
However, Lo added that it would require legislative amendments and resolution of some technical issues, which might not be ready in time for a proposed referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Absentee voting should also be limited to national referendums and not presidential elections because of the politically complex nature of presidential polls, Lo added.
Lo and Chuang were among the local office directors who attended a meeting with Su yesterday, which discussed the mobilization work for both the anti-nuclear protest to be held on Saturday and the proposed national referendum.
Su called on DPP supporters and members to participate in the Saturday protest, but asked them to keep a low profile by leaving party flags, banners, hats and materials at home, because the protest was a not competition between political parties.
“The protest was initiated by civic groups for the people and it should stay that way,” Su said, adding that the DPP would only play an assisting role in the demonstrations to be held in Taipei, Greater Taichung, Greater Kaohsiung and Taitung, which are expected to draw more than 50,000 participants.
Su also asked the party’s local offices not to mobilize sound trucks for the demonstrations.
Su and former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) both played down calls by some DPP lawmakers for people to view the referendum as a vote of no confidence in President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“The referendum is about the suspension of the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, rather than the opposition to the president,” Tsai wrote on her Facebook page yesterday.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS