The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday began its primary election for Chiayi County commissioner, as local prosecutors arrested four suspects over alleged involvement in bribery or election betting.
A telephone opinion poll was conducted last night to decide whether the party should nominate Chiayi County Council Speaker Chang Ming-ta (張明達) or former Council of Agriculture deputy minister Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁). The results are to be announced today.
The race was expected to be a close one, with an opinion poll released in January showing Weng leading Chang by only 5.1 percentage points.
The results of the opinion poll would be sealed and sent to DPP headquarters, which is to make an official announcement. However, if the polling agency failed to collect enough valid votes by 10:30pm yesterday, a second round of opinion polls is to be conducted today, the DPP said.
The showdown between the two is widely viewed as a proxy war between Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) and DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), a former county commissioner.
Helen Chang has endorsed Chang Ming-ta’s bid and actively campaigned for him, while Weng has the support of Chen and DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘), who have considerable local influence.
The DPP plans to hold primaries for Chiayi County, Kaohsiung and Tainan from yesterday to tomorrow. It decided by drawing lots yesterday to start with Chiayi County. It is to decide today when the other two would be held.
Meanwhile, Chiayi County prosecutors detained four people over alleged involvement in election betting or bribery.
The Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office had no comment as of press time last night.
Tsai, in a Facebook post, accused Chang Ming-ta’s campaign team of being involved in the bribery scheme.
“You [Chang Ming-ta] never impose any restrictions on your team. Your relationship building has become a ruleless [leadership]. You allowed those people to squander your money, which is the biggest contributing factor to Chiayi County’s growing instability,” Tsai wrote.
Chang Ming-ta’s campaign team denied any association with the suspects and accused Tsai of making groundless accusations to manipulate the election.
DPP spokesman Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said the party was paying close attention to the investigation and that it would take disciplinary action if it discovered any election violations.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
RSS