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2012 ELECTIONS: Piggy
banks back at DPP election HQ
CONVERGENCE: More than 40,000 piggy banks
arrived at Tsai Ing-wen’s national campaign headquarters, where party staff
counted the donated bills and coins
By Rich Chang / Staff Reporter
Piggy banks containing donations
for Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s election
campaign are laid out in the shape of Taiwan outside Tsai’s national election
headquarters in Banciao District, New Taipei City, yesterday.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Tens of thousands of piggy banks handed
out nationwide as part of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) “three little
pigs” fundraising campaign were yesterday delivered to DPP presidential
candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national campaign headquarters in New Taipei City
(新北市).
All the piggy banks, returned by supporters to campaign headquarters in cities
and counties around the country, were transported to Tsai’s national
headquarters in Banciao District (板橋), where campaign staff then arranged them
in the shape of Taiwan.
Hundreds of people gathered at the national headquarters from early in the
morning, as more than 100 vehicles from all over the country arrived to unload
the piggy banks.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said on Saturday that on average a large
20 tonne truck could hold about 5,000 piggy banks, while smaller 5 tonne to 6
tonnes trucks could carry about 1,000 piggy banks.
Campaign spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said the piggy banks came from the
northernmost point of the nation, in Keelung, and the southernmost in Hengchun
(恆春), Pingtung County.
Some even came from as far as the outlying island of Penghu, Hsu said.
“As more than 70,000 piggy banks were returned on the ‘homecoming day’ rally on
Dec. 10, and more than 40,000 piggy banks yesterday, the headquarters calculates
it has received more than 110,000 piggy banks altogether,” Hsu said.
More than 100 staffers punched holes in the back of the piggy banks with
specially designed equipment and then sorted the coins and bills.
A large number of coins were then laid over a huge representation of Taiwan
within the headquarters building, signifying “fairness and justice spread
throughout Taiwan, escorting Tsai Ing-wen to the Presidential Office.”
Hsu said the campaign has broken a world record by supporters donating the
largest number of coins in an election campaign. The coins and bills will be
deposited in the party’s political donations account next month, she said.
The party launched the campaign in the wake of a warning from the Control Yuan,
which said the DPP’s acceptance of three piggy banks from a set of young
triplets was a possible violation of the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).
In response, the DPP started distributing piggy banks around the country.
As many as 300,000 banks were distributed.
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