Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday called on a newly established group of female KMT members to lend their support to the party in the lead-up to the August referendums and next year’s local elections.
At a news conference in Taipei, the KMT announced the formation of a “new female power work committee” aimed at preparing the party for local elections next year, and the presidential and legislative elections in 2024.
The committee is chaired by Nieh Hui-ju (聶惠如), a retired educator and a former chairwoman of the ROC Women’s Association Headquarters, the KMT said.
Photo: CNA
Committee members are women with local influence, with local figures who support women’s groups acting as advisers, the KMT said.
Party leaders, including Chiang, KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) and KMT Deputy Secretary-General Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), were among those who attended the committee’s launch.
Female politicians have always been “an important force” within the KMT, Chiang said.
Thanking the committee members for their past support, he urged them to help the KMT get its proposed referendums passed on Aug. 28 — the next possible date for a referendum.
The KMT has proposed two referendums, the first of which would ask voters if they agree that referendums should be held on the same day as national elections if an election is scheduled to take place within six months of a proposed referendum being approved.
The other would ask voters if they agree that the government should impose a complete ban on the importation of meat, offal and related products from pigs containing residues of the animal feed additive ractopamine.
The party hopes to see its seven KMT female city mayors and county commissioners re-elected next year, as well as the election of additional female KMT members to the heads of city and county governments, he said, adding that the party “needs everyone’s help.”
He believes that if the referendums proposed by the KMT pass in August, the party would also be successful in next year’s elections, Chiang said.
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