With the latest poll showing rivals for the Taipei mayoral seat running neck-and-neck, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday stepped up his criticism of prosecutors, saying their high-profile raids of city government offices in relation to the Xinsheng Overpass scandal was costing him vital voter support.
Hau blamed the searches for the drop in his support rate in recent polls conducted by his campaign team, and said he was willing to take a polygraph or handwriting test to facilitate the investigation.
“I am willing to accept the prosecutors’ orders if they want me to take a lie detector or handwriting test. I would step down immediately if I were found to be involved in the scandal,” he said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony for the Uni-Hankyu Mall near Taipei City Hall.
Hau, of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said that in polls conducted by his team, his support rate dropped significantly every time news about the prosecutors’ searches of the Taipei City Government came out.
A poll released by TVBS cable television station yesterday found Hau had a support rate of 43 percent, while DPP candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was behind by only 1 point, receiving 42 percent support.
Hau said the election outlook in the mayoral election has been a tug of war between him and Su, and he would spare no effort to win the support of Taipei voters.
He confirmed that he has taken a more aggressive stance toward the prosecutors’ moves because of concern about the investigation’s impact on the election.
“I absolutely respect the judiciary, but I expect the judiciary not to intervene in politics,” Hau said.
The mayor promised on Wednesday to resign if he was found to have been involved in the scandal. He made the pledge after Taipei District prosecutors alleged that Taipei City Secretariat Director Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安) contacted the owner of a construction company before the firm won a tender for the Xinsheng Overpass reconstruction project.
They said Yang might also be involved in the purchase of allegedly overpriced flowers for the project, and searched his office and residence to collect information.
Commenting on Hau’s combative stance, Su slammed the mayor for worrying about his election campaign, and urged him to explain the problematic flower purchase plans for the overpass project.
“The elections are all that are on Hau’s mind right now,” DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said. “He still hasn’t apologized for the [allegations] that his administration’s secretary-general was deeply involved in the scandal.”
Lin called on prosecutors’ to speed up their investigation over the scandal, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration “should not turn around when they meet one of their own.”
Additional reporting by Vincent Y. Chao
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