The only policy debate among Kaohsiung mayoral by-election candidates is to take place tomorrow afternoon and it is to be shown live on TV and the Internet.
Voting for the by-election is to take place on Aug. 15.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is represented by Kaohsiung City Councilor Jane Lee (李眉蓁), the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) by Kaohsiung City Councilor Wu Yi-jheng (吳益政) and the Democratic Progressive Party by former vice premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
Photo: CNA
The policy presentation is to be held at the Kaohsiung City Government’s Siwei Administrative Center from 2:30pm to 4pm.
Three moderators would be selected from a list of experts and civic group representatives, and the candidates would rank them before the commission asks them if they are willing to serve as debate moderators, Kaohsiung City Election Commission Chairman Lo Pang-chi (駱邦吉) said.
The commission would not announce the list of moderators before the event, Lo said.
Chen said that he is using spare time between events or while traveling to familiarize himself with pertinent points of his platform.
He said that he treats every policy point seriously and seeks to be intimately familiar with every detail.
His platform is to give due weight to public opinion and to make Kaohsiung better, Chen said, adding that he is methodical and would follow procedure if elected.
Wu said that he is consolidating his platform into ideas and concepts that people can easily understand.
Chen should present answers for the municipality’s debt of NT$300 billion (US$10.16 billion), propose how city finances would be separated from politics and explain how he would distribute the Tax Redistribution Fund, Wu said.
Lee said that her platform focuses on infrastructure, debt reduction and increasing wages, while addressing concerns regarding young people, women, farmers and fishers, as well as environmental issues.
Lee has been under fire over alleged plagiarism of her master’s thesis.
Lee has a support rate of only 21 percent, down 1 percentage point from a previous survey, an opinion poll released on Monday by TVBS showed.
Chen had the highest support rate of 55 percent, up 1 percentage point, while Wu only garnered 5 percent, the poll showed.
Nearly 19 percent of respondents did not express a preference for any candidate, it found.
The Anti-Air Pollution in Southern Taiwan Alliance said that none of the candidates addressed environmental concerns and the group would ask them to propose solutions to air pollution at the debate.
Citizens of the Earth, Taiwan urged the candidates to propose policies to address the threat of gas explosions.
In 2014, a series of gas explosions that began late on July 31 rocked Kaohsiung, causing 32 deaths and injuring 321 people.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS