The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has designated five party heavyweights to be in charge of negotiations for party primaries of hotly contested constituencies in the commissioner and mayoral elections next year.
According to the party’s Central Standing Committee resolution on Aug. 14, the DPP headquarters is to oversee negotiations in constituencies with two or more aspirant candidates if private discussions between them fail to achieve a result.
With an eye to finalizing the nominations as soon as possible, the committee has decided to establish the coordination platform in five constituencies, with DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) in charge of negotiations in Pingtung County, where incumbent DPP lawmakers Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) are vying for nomination, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said yesterday.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was tasked with settling one of the fiercest competitions in Changhua County, where five DPP members have expressed an interest in winning the DPP nomination, including incumbent lawmaker Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷); former Changhua County commissioner Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠); former legislators Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀) and Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁); and Changhua City Mayor Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富).
DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) was appointed to coordinate negotiations between three aspirant candidates — a pair of lawmakers, Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), and former presidential running mate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), in Greater Taichung.
In Nantou County, former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) will have to convince two of three candidates — Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) and two former lawmakers, Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) and Tang Huo-shen (湯火聖) — to drop out of the race.
Former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) has been assigned to conduct negotiations between four aspirant candidates in Yunlin County — legislators Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) and Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), former Keelung mayor Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) and former county councilor Lin Shin-ting (林新丁).
No deadline has been set for the negotiations, but the five heavyweights are to report their progress to the party on a weekly basis. If all attempts at negotiations fail, public opinion polls will be held to determine the final candidates, Lin said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and