Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday signed a pro-capital punishment pledge drafted by KMT legislative candidates, and called on other presidential and vice presidential candidates to sign it.
In particular, Hou urged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德) to “find his conscience” and sign the pledge.
Hou said that many of his friends supported the death penalty, adding that it is important to ensuring fairness and justice in society.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
He also criticized Lai for copying his policies, such as abolishing the Barthel scale as a basis for measuring the ability of people aged 80 and older to care for themselves, raising wages for medical personnel and increasing subsidies for elderly farmers.
Meanwhile, Lai is afraid to comment on issues such as the death penalty, he said.
Hou said he has repeatedly asked Lai about his stance on the issue, but the vice president declined to respond.
“A candidate who will not acknowledge your needs before the election would only continue to abuse your rights after the voting is over,” he said.
The DPP blocks the implementation of the death penalty through administrative orders, because it is afraid of abolishing capital punishment, Hou said.
If elected, he said he would order a review of the system.
Lai said that the country has not abolished the death penalty, and that none of the presidential candidates mentioned the issue during the presidential debate.
He added that he was puzzled as to why Hou was “fixated on the issue.”
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