The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced its candidates for nine cities and counties governed by DPP members, with the party opting to nominate all nine mayors and commissioners for re-election.
The nine incumbents are: Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and Penghu County Commissioner Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復).
“Taiwan deserves recognition and improvement. Our [DPP] mayors and commissioners, as well as the [DPP] government and legislative caucus, are a united team,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“The nomination today is just a start. We will form the best campaign team to improve Taiwan and create happiness,” Tsai said.
The nomination did not come as much of a surprise, although there was speculation that a couple of candidates — notably Twu, whose approval rating is low — might be replaced.
Reports said the party tried to persuade Twu to give up his candidacy to make way for DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), but failed.
“The speculation and opposition against [my candidacy] suggest that I am the most competitive,” Twu said.
He added that his approval rating has rallied and should continue to climb as his nomination should quell the conflict within the DPP and ensure a coordinated campaign effort.
Doubts have also been cast on the re-election bid of Lee Chin-yung due to a rift with DPP Legislator Su Chih-feng (蘇治芬), a former Yunlin County commissioner who has considerable local influence.
Su on Monday wrote on Facebook that she would keep Lee Chin-yung at a distance and that their relationship soured immediately after he was sworn in three years ago.
Lee Chin-yung said he would talk to Su about the disagreement, while assuring that Su would assist the party in the election.
Lee Chin-yung vowed to develop public long-term care services and seek central government funding to help older people and the county, while continuing to carry out existing agricultural and “green” energy policies.
The DPP also plans to announce its nominees for four other DPP-governed municipalities: Tainan, Kaohsiung, Yilan and Chiayi County, where competition for the nomination is the most acute.
‘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
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
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
RSS