Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is emerging as a formidable presidential hopeful in the pan-blue camp, according to a recent opinion poll.
The poll, conducted by the pro-China United Daily News group on Saturday night, showed 43.3 percent support for a possible presidential bid by Ma in 2004 and 35.4 percent opposed to it.
Ma's candidacy is likely to threaten the presidential bids of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), adding more uncertainty to the fragile relations between the KMT and the PFP.
Both Lien and Soong have already drawn up campaign plans for their presidential bids, the Chinese-language media said yesterday. Without naming sources, the report said the KMT headquarters has transferred several tens of millions of NT dollars to a public relations firm to help Lien build publicity.
While talking about cooperation with an aim of consolidating the pan-blue voter base, both Lien and Soong are likely to jockey for the presidential candidacy and try to relegate each other to running-mate status.
According to the poll, supporters of Ma's presidential bid outnumber opponents by more than seven percentage points in northern and central Taiwan, while more than 40 percent of respondents in Kaohsiung and Pingtung support Ma's presidential bid. Supporters outnumber opponents by six percentage points in those areas, according to the poll.
But opposition to a presidential bid by Ma was strong in Yunlin and Chiayi, with opponents outnumbering supporters.
The poll also found that a majority of KMT and PFP supporters backed Ma's presidential bid, while a majority of DPP supporters oppose it.
When questioned about their ideal pan-blue presidential ticket, 20.3 percent support a Lien-Soong pairing -- with Lien as presidential candidate and Soong as running mate -- while 16.3 percent support a Soong-Ma ticket. Another 12.3 percent support a Soong-Lien ticket.
The poll was based on telephone interviews with 942 adults and has an error margin of 3.2 percent, according to the report.
The Chinese-language media also reported yesterday that Ma's wife, Chou Mei-ching (周美青), is against Ma running for president in 2004. Chou said in a media interview that, despite the expectations of his supporters, Ma should stay as Taipei mayor and try to do a good job.
Chou said Ma should learn from President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) experience and refrain from hastily seeking the presidency after serving only one term as Taipei mayor.
Chen lost his bid for re-election as Taipei mayor to Ma in 1998 and was propelled to the DPP's presidential candidacy as a result. Chen went on to win the 2000 presidential election.
Chou believes Chen's speedy rise to the presidency left him ill-prepared for the job.
Ma was re-elected as Taipei mayor on Saturday with more than 870,000 votes, beating his DPP challenger Lee Ying-yuan (
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