Meeting recruitment goals for legislator-at-large candidates has proved impossible, New Power Party (NPP) officials said yesterday, adding that the party would only nominate five or six at-large candidates, rather than eight as originally planned.
“There were difficulties as we consulted with prospective candidates, with many people unable to get the consent of their families,” NPP Secretary-General Chen Hui-min (陳惠敏) said.
Any candidate nominated by the party needs to demonstrate long-term perseverance and experience pushing for reform in their particular field, she said, adding that the party’s main objective was to nominate candidates who could “cover” issues for which its district candidates lacked expertise.
The party is to introduce its final legislative candidates today, including National Taiwan University economics professor Jang Show-ling (鄭秀玲), as well as another possible candidate who has yet to formally accept, she said.
The party yesterday introduced Soochow University political science professor Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), with previously announced candidates including Aboriginal activist Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, renowned theater director Ko I-chen (柯一正), and Hondao Senior Citizens Welfare Foundation chief executive Doris Lin (林依瑩).
Of the candidates currently announced, only Hsu, who also heads the party’s policy working group, is an active party official.
He said at-large candidates would present their policy stances in a series of events this week, including two televised presentations tomorrow and on Thursday, followed by three sessions over the weekend.
Online voting is to begin on Monday next week and continue until Nov. 19, with party officials previously stating that voting would be open to anyone who has formally registered as a “friend of the NPP,” in addition to party members who have paid dues.
Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that permitting party voting for the at-large legislative list rankings was necessary in order to prevent parties from protecting unpopular politicians by placing them high on at-large lists.
Party leaders have actively endorsed Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, urging voters to place her in the party’s top slot.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
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