Qin Huizhu and another village were attacked by the blue camp. Lai Qingde: Infringing on freedom goes against democratic values

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan recently went to Liaoning Night Market to sweep the streets for votes. The "One Village" dumpling shop that supports the Democratic Progressive Party's Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang was surrounded by blue camp supporters and shouted loudly. The KMT's Taipei City Councilor Qin Huizhu later visited the shop and took a photo with the proprietress to compare "3", which once again triggered the blue camp's campaign. President Lai Qingde, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, stressed today (11th) that interfering with others' expression of opinions by means of harassment and pressure not only violates the individual's right to free expression, but also violates the basic qualities and values ​​of a democratic society.

Jiang Wanan went to Liaoning night market to sweep the streets a few days ago. When he passed by the "Yiyi Village" dumpling shop, he entered and shook hands. However, the shop had "Ocean Current" streamers in support of Shen Boyang and was once surrounded by Blue Camp supporters and shouted. In addition, Qin Huizhu only recently attracted attention for taking a photo with Shen Boyang. Later, she was seen visiting "Yuyi Village" and taking a photo with the proprietress while making the "3" gesture symbolizing Shen Boyang's candidate number, which once again aroused dissatisfaction among the grassroots of the blue camp.

According to reports, Lai Qingde said in a regular meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party this afternoon that there are only 17 days left before the local election voting day. Recently, it can be clearly felt that the popularity of the election is gradually increasing. The public's attention to the candidates continues to increase, and they are more active in expressing their respective positions and opinions.

Lai Qingde said that the true meaning of democracy is to allow everyone to express their own position freely and fully demonstrate different opinions and opinions. No matter which candidate they support, everyone has the freedom to express their opinions and should be respected without any inappropriate interference or harassment.

Changing the topic, Lai Qingde pointed out that recently, some stores or individuals have been subjected to improper harassment and even recruitment just because they expressed support for a specific candidate or the media interviewed a specific candidate, which put the parties involved under considerable pressure. Such behavior of interfering with others' expression of opinions in the form of harassment and pressure not only violates individuals' rights to free expression, but also violates the basic qualities and values ​​that a democratic society should have.

Lai Qingde bluntly said that the purpose of democratic elections is to build social consensus through rational discussion and debate on public policies, and select candidates who can best represent the people and serve the public. Attacking each other, creating confrontation, and even causing social divisions are definitely not the spirit and value of democratic elections.

Lai Qingde expressed the hope that all candidates and campaign teams can respect the people's freedom to express their personal wishes when conducting various campaign activities and try to avoid causing interference to people's daily lives. He would also like to call on all supporters to respect each other's different opinions and positions and not to criticize each other. Even if you encounter provocation or abuse, you must show rationality and grace, do not respond to emotions with emotions, and do not let individual conflicts expand into social antagonism.

Lai Qingde said that only by maintaining positive and sunny electoral principles and allowing different positions to respect each other and tolerate different opinions can we jointly protect the hard-won democratic achievements and the people's right to be the masters of the country.

Lai Qingde also reminded all candidates and campaign teams, as well as party officials who assisted in the election, that the current election campaign has reached the final uphill stretch, but it has not yet been won. There must be no slacking off and continuous efforts must be made. In the last mile, in order to achieve the goal of bringing a better life to the people, we must take every step steadily, move forward firmly, and use a positive and positive attitude to win the recognition and support of more voters until the moment we successfully reach the top.