By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Led by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the party’s legislative caucus yesterday announced 26 legislative proposals it billed as its priority for the upcoming legislative session, which is slated to convene on Friday next week.
The proposals, classified into eight categories, reflected the party’s ideology and values presented in its 10-year policy guidelines, Tsai said.
The eight categories cover a wide range of issues, including employment, poverty, housing, land expropriation, agriculture, environmental sustainability and judicial reform.
Notable proposals include the introduction of a property transaction income tax based on real transaction prices; to promote a nuclear-free homeland by 2025; to protect judicial human rights; and to establish a food security standard.
The DPP caucus will do its best to move the bills in the legislature after the new session opens, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
In other developments, the DPP Central Standing Committee yesterday wrapped up its nomination process for January’s legislative elections, filling out the last two vacancies and announcing that it would not nominate candidates in four electoral districts.
The party nominated Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌) in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Jhonghe District (中和) and Ruan Jhao-syong (阮昭雄) in Taipei City’s Da-an (大安)-Wenshan (文山) electoral district, DPP spokesman Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
The DPP will not contest seats in Kinmen, Matsu, Bade (八德) in Taoyuan County and the Songshan (松山) – Xinyi (信義) electoral district in Taipei City, Lin said.
That means the DPP will engage in head-to-head battles with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival in 69 of the nation’s 73 legislative districts.
The DPP is expected to privately support independent candidate Hu Chen-pu (胡鎮埔), a retired general, in Bade, and Green Party Taiwan candidate Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), who is running for the Songshan-Xinyi seat.
DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the party’s arbitration committee would also launch an investigation into Legislator Huang Jen-shu (黃仁杼), who was indicted in a corruption case and sentenced to seven years and eleven months in the case’s first trial yesterday.
The DPP will make its final assessment on whether to rescind Huang’s nomination after the investigation is completed, Chen said.