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Shih Ming-teh drops out of race

Three candidates from the pan-blue camp who are competing for the nomination in the Kaohsiung mayoral elections, from left, Huang Jun-ying, Chang Po-ya and Chang Chao-hsiung, hold hands with KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng, right, following negotiations in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

One of the pan-blue camp's Kaohsiung mayoral candidates dropped out of KMT-PFP deliberations, leaving three candidates to compete for the nomination.

Convener of the political reform group Mountain (山盟) Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), on behalf of former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who refused to attend the meeting in Taipei, told the press after the negotiations ended yesterday that Shih had decided to withdraw from the pan-blue nomination process. Hsu said Shih will "walk his own way" by waging his own campaign.

"His suggestion that all of the pan-blue candidates hold three public debates before the KMT and PFP began conducting opinion polls [to decide on a joint candidate] was rebuffed. Only Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英) supported it. This is why Shih decided to campaign on his own" Hsu said.

"It's regrettable to see that closed-door political negotiations are still going on," Shih later told the press.

In order to resolve the long-standing candidacy problem, KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) and PFP Secretary-General David Chung (鍾榮吉) invited the four potential candidates to a negotiating session held yesterday afternoon.

The negotiations were held to come up with a set of plans acceptable to the four candidates for selecting a final contestant to represent the pan-blue camp in Kaohsiung.

It was the first time that the contestants, except for Shih -- former deputy mayor of Kaohsiung Huang Jun-ying from the KMT, PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) and former minister of the interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) -- shared the stage.

All three said they "would respect the negotiating process" when interviewed prior to the meeting.

With only three months away from the polling day, the pan-blue camp has decided to select one of the three existing candidates based on their approval ratings in opinion polls. The possibility of holding forums for candidates to announce their campaign platforms was ruled out.

Chairman of the KMT's organizational development committee James Chen (陳健治) said since both parties have agreed to use opinion polls as the selection standard, the three contestants should do everything they can to solicit support. He also urged the three to accept the result because "now it's Kaohsiung citizens, not the KMT or the PFP, that will nominate the candidate," Chen added.

Later yesterday, the pan-blue camp decided to have their candidates hold a televised policy debate on Sept. 13 before conducting a poll to decide on a candidate in mid-September.
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