Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) yesterday celebrated a landslide victory against five competitors in the party’s primary opinion polls for Tainan for the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.
The DPP announced the combined results of three opinion polls conducted by telephone on Wednesday, which showed Huang crushing his rivals, DPP legislators Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) and Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津), as well as former Tainan deputy mayor Yen Chun-tso (顏純左) and former DPP legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅).
Huang received support from 41.58 percent of respondents, easily outrunning Chen’s 28.17 percent, followed by Yen’s 6.72 percent, Wang’s 5.13 percent, Lee’s 2.11 percent and Yeh’s 0.76 percent.
Photo: Wan Yu-chen, Taipei Times
Huang thanked supporters while calling for party unity given the rhetoric-laden mudslinging competition that developed between candidates.
“I feel surprise and the weight of responsibility,” Huang said. “My original principle remains unchanged. It is a competition between party members, not infighting.”
He said he would seek support from his rivals after the DPP approves the nomination and urged other candidates to look past their feuds and pledge their support to him to secure the city for the party.
During the campaign, candidates hurled accusations against each other on an almost daily basis, forcing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who doubles as the party’s chairperson, to announce a prohibition on slander and mudslinging.
Some candidates were criticized for aligning with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians with a history of corruption or involvement with organized crime, while others were accused of drawing funds from China.
Also thanking her supporters, Chen said that she was a major target of slander during the competition, but her reputation survived unscathed.
However, her decision to refrain from criticizing her competitors might have been wrong, Chen said.
Asked whether she would help Huang campaign for mayor, Chen said she would not rule out the possibility, but Huang would first need to bridge the rift between the candidates.
Chen would not withdraw a lawsuit she filed against Huang’s campaign office director for implicating her in a business fraud case, she said.
Yen and Wang congratulated Huang and called for party solidarity ahead of the elections.
Media reports of Huang’s polling victory came out before the DPP officially announced the results, sparking speculation that the party leaked the information.
The DPP denied the allegations, saying the selection process had been fair.
The DPP is scheduled to officially nominate Huang as the party’s Tainan mayoral candidate, DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) as its Kaohsiung mayoral candidate and former deputy minister of agriculture Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁) as Chiayi County commissioner candidate on Wednesday.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS