One day after the pan-blue camp announced it would organize a million person rally on March 13, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday denied the rally was aimed at countering the pan-green camp's momentum in the wake of the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally.
"The 313 rally is not meant to counter the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally, and is an activity that has been planned since the election campaign kicked off," Lien said at a press conference.
The success of the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally has evoked a sense of crisis in the pan-blue camp, since the two presidential candidates are running neck and neck in opinion polls, with President Chen Shui-bian (
According to local Chinese-language news reports, high-ranking members of the pan-blue camp have been worried about Lien's performance and decided on Monday evening that the pan-blue camp will launch a large-scale campaign rally on March 13, and aim to mobilize over 1 million people.
According to People First Party (PFP) Legislator Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國), who is also the campaign spokesman for the pan-blue camp, the 313 Rally will promote anti-"black gold" and anti-corruption efforts under the slogan "vote for change."
The leadership hopes to thereby boost the pan-blue camp's morale and increase its momentum.
The participants will shout out slogans such as "320, change the president" and "down with `black gold,' save Taiwan" at 3:20pm in northern, central and southern Taiwan simultaneously, Pang said.
Pang said they expect that each pan-blue legislator and city councilor will be able to mobilize around 500 supporters, as well as design special costumes for the participants.
PFP Chairman James Soong (
As for details about locations and transportation, the pan-blue camp said it has not yet decided on the full details.
"The 313 Rally is actually an expansion of the original campaign rally idea, since the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally made an impression on the KMT-PFP alliance," Pang said.
"We've gotten many comments from our supporters that they want to have a similar campaign rally so that they can show their enthusiasm for their candidates," Pang said.
Democratic Progressive Party campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (
Pang said that the pan-blue camp would welcome supporters of Chen should they choose to join the 313 Rally, as long as they obey the regulations set by the KMT-PFP alliance.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (
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