Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City councilors yesterday expressed their concern about Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin's (郝龍斌) re-election bid after a survey showed Hau trailing his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival.
A poll conducted by TVBS TV on Tuesday and Wednesday showed that support for Hau had dropped to 42 percent amid allegations of corruption and overpricing relating to the Taipei International Flora Expo and Xinsheng Overpass reconstruction project, while the DPP's Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) surpassed Hau for the first time, with 45 percent.
In its previous poll two weeks ago, Hau had a support rate of 45 percent against Su's 42 percent.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) attributed the drop to the city government's slow response and its failure to clarify the matter.
Lin called on Hau and the city government to work on their crisis management skills.
“Your team should reflect on how it allowed a small problem to turn into such a big storm. The results of the survey show that the public is upset with your poor handling of the controversy,” she said at the Taipei City Council.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Fred Wang (王浩) urged the mayor to focus his efforts on highlighting his municipal achievements ahead of the election in November.
“I find it difficult to understand how Taipei residents could claim to be happy living here and yet not like their mayor,” Wang said, referring to KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin’s (蘇俊賓) comment on Wednesday that Taipei received top scores in a survey of the level of happiness among residents living in different cities and counties.
“You pushed for municipal development and have made the city a better place,” Wang said. “You must try harder to make the public aware of your contributions.”
Hau said he and his team had paid a heavy price for failing to resolve the controversy sooner and pledged to be steadfast in his resolve to continue municipal projects.
Since the scandal erupted late last month, political commentators such as National Taiwan University professor Lin Huo-wang (林火旺) and former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) have called on Hau to drop out of the mayoral race.
Lin, a former adviser to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), has said that the KMT could consider Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) or Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) — both of whom served as deputy mayor during Ma’s stint as Taipei mayor — as potential candidates to replace Hau.
Coming to the defense of Hau, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) told a press conference yesterday that his caucus “fully supported” Hau and would never suggest that the party nominate another candidate.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said it would be unfair to urge Hau to drop out of the race because he was not implicated in the corruption scandal.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said Hau need not bow out unless senior officials, such as the city government’s secretary-general, were found guilty of corruption.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND STAFF WRITER
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