Two of the three presidential candidates — former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) — yesterday accepted invitations to attend a housing justice and judicial reform rally on July 16 on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building.
Ko, chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), and an official from Hou’s campaign office accepted the invitations, which were delivered by the protest organizers, former legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Internet celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢).
Huang said the issues of judicial reform and housing justice are not exclusive to any one party, but are concerns that all Taiwanese share.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Ko, who met with Huang and Chen at the TPP’s headquarters, said he and other TPP members would attend the protest “in a personal capacity.”
He said that since leaving his job as Taipei mayor last year, he had been traveling across the country to better understand public opinion.
The issues that came up consistently among young people were low salaries and high real-estate and rental prices, Ko said
As for judicial reform, the need for change is clear, as opinion polls show that Taiwanese lack trust in judges and other legal officials, he said.
After meeting with Ko, Huang and Chen went to Hou’s campaign headquarters, where they met his deputy campaign head, Hsieh Cheng-ta (謝政達).
Hou had previously expressed support for the rally, Hsieh said, adding that he would “make arrangements” for Hou to attend.
Huang and Chen also visited the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) headquarters, with DPP deputy secretary-general Yang Yi-shan (楊懿珊) saying that the party wholeheartedly supports the right to protest and shares many of the organizers’ concerns.
However, Yang was noncommittal about whether the DPP’s presidential candidate, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), would attend the protest, citing time constraints because of a party meeting that day.
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