With the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) reeling amid a string of corruption scandals involving party members, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is speeding up the process of nominating candidates for the seven-in-one local elections next year to pave the way for a return to power.
DPP officials yesterday said that following the suspension of Nantou County commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) of the KMT due to corruption charges and an ongoing graft probe into Cho Po-chung (卓伯仲), the younger brother of Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) of the KMT, the DPP has a good chance of winning the mayoral seats in Nantou and Changhua in next year’s elections.
The DPP also stands a chance of taking control in Chiayi City and Greater Taichung, which have been listed among the party’s “first-grade combat zones,” DPP officials said, adding that the party hopes to complete its list of candidates by the end of this year.
Lee, who had been detained since Nov. 30 last year on suspicion of taking bribes on public projects, was released on NT$20 million (US$668,000) bail on Tuesday last week after prosecutors indicted him on corruption charges.
He applied for reinstatement the following day, but the request was rejected by the Ministry of the Interior on Monday.
Cho Po-chung has been detained since January on suspicion of manipulating several tenders and receiving kickbacks from a contractor and, according to reports in the Chinese-language Journalist magazine, might have also embezzled donations from businesses to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) Changhua office during Ma’s presidential campaign last year.
However, although the recent spate of graft scandals has taken a toll on the KMT, competition among DPP members seeking candidacy for county commissioner posts — particularly in Changhua, Nantou and Taichung — has also intensified
According to sources, DPP Department of Organization director Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) and DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) are expected to vie for the party’s nomination to run in Nantou.
Lee Wen-chung, who represented the party in 2009 to challenge then-Nantou County commissioner Lee Chao-ching, said he has reinforced his local support base following the loss and that he is “prudently optimistic” about next year’s mayoral election.
Despite saying that he has endeavored to appeal to voters at the grassroots level in the region and is inclined to run for the mayoral post, Tsai said no formal decisions have been made.
As for the county commissioner post in Changhua, three DPP members have expressed their intention to run for the post, including Legislator Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) and former legislators Chiang Chao-i (江昭儀) and Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁), sources said, adding that Changhua Mayor Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富) and former Changhua County commissioner Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) are also tipped as possible candidates.
For the Taichung mayoral post, DPP legislators Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), and former DPP secretary-general Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) could be among a group of party members who seek the nomination for the mayorship, sources said.
With regard to the party’s “first-grade combat zones,” former DPP legislator Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) is most likely to represent the party in the mayoral election in Chiayi, sources said.
The sources added that the party headquarters would conduct negotiations with candidate hopefuls for hotly contested elective positions to seek consensus on the names of candidates, before resorting to primary elections.
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
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
‘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
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