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Annette Lu to announce her bid today

"Presidential hopefuls should explain their policies to the public. Without debate, [candidates' election platforms] will remain unclear."

Yu Shyi-kun, DPP chairman and presidential hopeful

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) finally decided to throw her hat into the ring yesterday, telling the media she will take part in the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) primary for next year's presidential election.

With the DPP's five-day candidate registration process beginning yesterday, Lu told reporters in Taichung City that she would make the official announcement of her bid in Taipei today.

DPP members will vote on presidential and legislative candidates on May 6, followed by public opinion polls. The party is scheduled to announce its final candidates for the two elections on May 30.

Lu had previously been coy about her intentions, saying she did not want to talk about the elections during the Lunar Near Year holiday.

Some Chinese-language media had even reported that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had tried to dissuade Lu from running for president in an effort to "simplify" the party's candidate selection process.

Lu will compete against Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) in the party's presidential primary.

Former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said yesterday that although he thought her credentials were better than her male counterparts', it would be "inappropriate" for Lu to lead the nation.

Koo notoriously once said that he did not think "someone in a skirt" would make a good commander-in-chief.

He stood by the controversial comment yesterday, saying that Taiwan's volatile situation made it inappropriate for Lu to lead.

Koo called on the DPP's four presidential hopefuls to hold a public debate before the selection process commenced.

Koo made the proposal after placing a half-page advertisement in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) and China Times yesterday.

In the advertisement headlined "The public cannot be excluded from the DPP's presidential primary," Koo said that he was "strongly opposed to selecting the candidates through polls" and "strongly opposed to making the final choice in behind-the-scenes negotiations."

Koo argued that polls sometimes fail to accurately reflect the will of the public and urged the DPP to take its supporters' opinions seriously and "allow the public to participate in the selection process."

Asked to comment further, Koo proposed reversing the weighting of the party member vote and the public poll in deciding the party's candidate. The party member vote counts for 30 percent of a would-be candidate's "score," while the public poll counts for 70 percent.

Yu said Koo's comments reflected the views of most DPP members and supporters.

"Presidential hopefuls should explain their policies to the public. Without debate, [candidates' election platforms] will remain unclear," Yu said.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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