Annette Lu vows pursuit of anti-plant referendum

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said she would not give up her effort to initiate a local referendum to stop the installation of fuel rods in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant if her appeal is rejected by the Taipei High Administrative Court next month.

Lu filed a provisional injunction in January after the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee in May last year rejected a proposal regarding the plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).

Ko, Chu remain far in lead in public opinion polls

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Public opinion polls released yesterday showed that independent Taipei mayoral hopeful Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) remain head and shoulders above their respective opponents in the run-up to the year-end elections, while Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) has erased his deficit in the rankings.

The polls in the three constituencies were conducted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily.

Chu confirms re-election bid, slams ‘smears’

‘PRINCELING’ TRIO:Mayoral candidate Yu Shyi-kun said New Taipei City’s mayor was part of a group from political families, urging people to vote against them
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) launched his bid for another four-year term yesterday by completing his registration with the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local chapter, vowing to stay in the race to the end amid speculation that he could abandon the mayor’s office to focus on the 2016 presidential election.

After he completed the registration process, Chu told reporters that his re-election campaign headquarters would be established at an appropriate date, adding that his campaign team would be comprised of people from every sector of society.

Pan-green New Taipei mayoral hopefuls debate

‘NUMBERS GAME’:Yu Shyi-kun focused on his ‘1453’ social housing policy, while Lin Chi-chia touted his ‘54321’ platform. They are to debate again on Wednesday
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Following the pattern of pan-green camp integration in Taipei, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) New Taipei City mayoral hopeful Yu Shyi-kun (游錫?) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) hopeful Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) engaged in a televised debate yesterday ahead of a public opinion poll on Thursday to determine the final pan-green camp candidate in the November election.

The contenders talked about their vision for the nation’s largest constituency, which has a population of 3.96 million, in a televised debate yesterday at Formosa Television in the last push of their campaigns before the poll, where they would each be matched against New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫).

DPP gears up for mayoral battle in northern Taiwan

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday officially confirmed its collaborative partnership with independent Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in the Taipei mayoral election, putting in place the final piece of the puzzle as the party gears up for the mayoral race in northern Taiwan’s four major constituencies in November.

The party decided against nominating its own candidate and opted to support Ko in Taipei, where the DPP has failed to win since former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) served as mayor from 1994 to 1998.

TSU candidate bets Eric Chu to stand for mayor

PRIVATE HOLDINGS:Lin Chih-chia questioned the New Taipei City mayor’s alleged failure to report a shareholding in a company that his father-in-law owns
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) will run for re-election in the mayoral election in November because he has no other option, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) — who is also the party’s candidate in the election — told a press conference yesterday.

“I would say [the possibility of Chu running for re-election is] 100 percent. It’s my assessment though — you don’t have to believe me, but time will tell,” Lin said, adding that he had full confidence that he could beat Chu by more than 100,000 votes in the election.

DPP tells Ko Wen-je it will support him in poll

PAN-GREEN UNITY:The DPP told Ko it would not nominate its own candidate to run against him, and agreed with the TSU to field a candidate together for New Taipei City
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday made an unofficial commitment to independent Taipei mayoral hopeful Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) that it would not nominate its own candidate in the election and reached an agreement with the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) that only one candidate would represent the pan-green camp in the New Taipei City mayoral election.

DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), who served as convener of a task force for the DPP’s Taipei mayoral primary, issued a joint statement after a two-hour meeting with Ko that the DPP agreed to cooperate with the independent candidate to end the decade-long governance of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Taipei.

Chu appears uninterested in re-election: Yu

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) “does not look like he is ready and willing” to run for re-election, former premier Yu Shyi-kun, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate in the New Taipei City mayoral election, said yesterday on the sidelines of the DPP’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.

“Judging from what I’ve seen and heard on the campaign trail, I would say that the chances of Chu declaring a re-election bid are getting slimmer and slimmer,” Yu said.

NUCLEAR POWER DEBATE: Majority wants no plebiscite threshold

POLL PRESSURE:：The Taiwan Thinktank said judging by the results of a recent poll, the mainstream public opinion on amending the Referendum Act has been made clear
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter
Wed, Apr 30, 2014 - Page 3

The majority of respondents in a public opinion poll released yesterday supported eliminating the threshold stipulated in the Referendum Act (公民投票法), as well as a simple format for referendum questions to avoid hidden political agendas.

The Taiwan Thinktank found that 64.8 percent of the respondents agreed that the current high threshold — which requires the participation of 50 percent of eligible voters and with at least half of them casting a “yes” vote for the referendum to pass — should be eliminated, with only 22.4 percent not agreeing and 12.8 percent declining to answer, the think tank’s deputy executive director, Lai I-chung (賴怡忠), told a news conference.

Dentist injured in EY eviction claims retaliation effort

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

A dentist injured by police during the eviction of protesters from the Executive Yuan last month yesterday said he suspected that the government is trying to revoke his license in “retaliation” for his participation in the Sunflower movement.

Wang Hsin-kai (王心愷) was hit on the head by a police officer and suffered seizures as he lay on the ground awaiting medical help at the Executive Yuan compound.

Tsai’s office mum on DPP chairmanship election

NEW TAIPEI RACE:A news Web site said DPP candidate Yu Shyi-kun has significantly cut his deficit against incumbent Eric Chu, who has yet to say whether he is running
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office yesterday remained tight-lipped on whether she plans to run in the party’s chairmanship election in May, amid media reports saying she would announce her bid next week.

“We urge the media to stop speculating. [The office] will make an announcement when the time is right,” office spokesperson Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) said.

DPP hopeful faces rumors, uncertainty in election bid

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Former premier Yu Shyi-kun of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the party’s candidate in the New Taipei City mayoral election, has found himself caught between a rock and a hard place — facing rumor-mongering within the party and not knowing who his election rival will be.

“I’d rather look to the future than dwell on the past... I believe that I will be the DPP’s official nominee ... and I have full confidence that I will win the election,” Yu told reporters yesterday before the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting in Taipei.

Su, Yu deny New Taipei candidacy replacement rumors

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and the party’s New Taipei City mayoral candidate, former premier Yu Shyi-kun, yesterday reiterated that reports of Su replacing Yu in the November race were groundless.

A report on Storm Media, an online news Web site, said last week that if Su lost in his re-election bid in the chairman race in May, the chairman might seek to replace Yu in the New Taipei City mayoral election to prolong his political career.

Eric Chu’s family ties a cause for concern: TSU

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday accused New Taipei City (新北) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of potential corruption and his wife of receiving benefits from illegal public bids involving companies owned by her father.

The new accusations came one day after the TSU accused Chu and his father-in-law, Kao Yu-jen (高育仁), of violating the Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest (公務人員利益衝突迴避法) because the Kao family had secured government projects worth almost NT$1.2 billion (US$40 million) over the past 12 years while Chu served as Taoyuan County commissioner, vice premier and New Taipei City mayor.

New Taipei City denies Chu-tied firm given projects

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The New Taipei City (新北市) Government yesterday denied the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s (TSU) accusation that New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) had given a company owned by Chu’s father-in-law government projects worth almost NT$1.2 billion (US$40 million) over the past 12 years.

FiberLogic Communications, a technology firm that Kao Yu-jen (高育仁), Chu’s father-in-law, established in 1999, has won 12 government bids, including five limited tenders, totaling NT$1.18 billion between 2001, when Chu served as Taoyuan County commissioner, and last year, the TSU caucus told a press conference yesterday morning.

Recall campaigners pledge river plunge

SIGNATURES WANTED:Tamsui River was nominated as the body of water leaders of Constitution 133 Alliance promised to jump into if they collected 5,000 more names
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Leaders of a recall campaign against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said that if the remaining 5,000 signatures are collected for the recall proposal to be put to a referendum, they would jump into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in celebration.

Award-winning writer Neil Peng (馮光遠), co-founder of the Constitution 133 Alliance, posted the idea on Facebook and his blog on Monday to publicize the campaign’s push to collect the 5,000 more signatures that are needed to meet the requirements of the second phase of the recall process.

Chu gives KMT lottery funds: TSU

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus yesterday demanded that New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) step down over what it called the municipality’s misuse of proceeds from lottery ticket sales, but local officials said the city government had done nothing wrong.

TSU Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) told a press conference that the city’s administration has been financing various peripheral groups affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), such as the Chinese Youth Peace Corps and women’s associations, with revenue from lottery ticket sales.

Annette Lu files injunction over rejected nuclear poll

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) plans to file a provisional injunction over the government’s rejection of her proposed nuclear referendum in New Taipei City (新北市) in a bid to stop the fuel rods from being installed at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Gongliao District (貢寮).

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled at the Taipei High Administrative Court today over the lawsuit Lu has filed against the Executive Yuan for rejecting her referendum proposal, which had been previously approved by New Taipei City’s Referendum Review Committee.

DPP confirms Yu as pick for New Taipei City race

CAMPAIGN VOW:It was rumored that the ex-premier’s candidacy may be revoked due to poor ratings and his age, but after being confirmed, Yu vowed to fight for the youth
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday confirmed former premier Yu Shyi-kun as its candidate for the New Taipei City (新北市) mayoral election in December, ending widespread speculation that it would replace Yu with someone else due to his poor showing in public opinion polls.

The party also selected legislators Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) to contest the races in Greater Taichung and Changhua County respectively, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told a press conference after the party’s Central Executive Committee approved the nominations.

Campaigners complain about ‘stalling strategy’

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

A recall campaign against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) yesterday entered its second phase, during which the Constitution 133 Alliance would need to collect about 40,000 signatures from residents of New Taipei City’s (新北市) six districts for the recall proposal to pass.

“[Collecting signatures] will be difficult, and we have to deal with the questionable administrative procedure of the Central Election Commission, but we will fight to the very end,” award-winning writer Neil Peng (馮光遠), one of the campaign’s primary organizers, said in front of the commission’s headquarters, where he obtained a copy of the petition letter for the second phase.