While the central election committee yesterday posted the presidential election bulletin, demanding that all candidates complete the legal registration procedure and pay a NT$15 million security deposit before Jan. 31, the KMT's presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰) has started a furious tug-of-war with his rivals, particularly with the independent candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜).
According to the latest poll conducted by the Shan-shui Public Opinion Research Company (山水民意研究公司), the number of pro-Soong voters has declined sharply to 25 percent after peaking at 40 percent last July.
The poll indicated that following the revelation of unusual dealings at the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corp (中興票卷公司), Soong still holds 50 percent of his original voters, while 15 percent of formally pro-Soong voters have switched support to the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and 10 percent have moved to Lien's side; the remaining 16 percent are still undecided.
"In the short-term, Chen received the support of reform-minded Soong supporters, while in the long-run, Lien is expected to take over Soong's rural supporters,'' said Lin Chiang-long (林佳龍), political analyst at National Chung Cheng University (國立中正大學).
The KMT's vice secretary-general Huang Cheng-hsiung (黃正雄), in charge of organizational affairs, yesterday confirmed that his party's fight to win over "vote captains" (樁腳) from Soong has been more successful than anticipated.
The party official said the KMT had so far successfully persuaded several local faction leaders to support the KMT ticket with Lien and Premier Vincent Siew (
However, Soong's campaign officials countered that while some faction leaders might have been won over by the KMT, vote captains under them have not necessarily changed ranks.
The KMT's strategy against Soong does not end in its competition for local faction leaders. The party also is fighting on the frontiers in urban areas, with a different tactic.
"Especially in the metropolitan regions, the KMT has to rely on campaign agenda-setting in an effort to win over the votes from middle-class citizens," Huang said.
Lien's campaign officials are eager to strike a new dynamic campaign note, in the hope of walking out of President and KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) shadow and establishing and publicizing Lien's own political character.
A campaign official for Lien said the proposal to put the KMT's assets into a trust and the suggestion of a "confederate system" in contrast to Lee's "special state-to-state" theory for cross-strait relations, all prove Lien's determination to set his own course.
"If Lien plans to step on the same road as Lee did, I think Lien could just drop out from the presidential race. But the difference between Lee and Lien, however, does not amount to a contradiction between them,'' said KMT legislator Chen Shei-saint (陳學聖), one of Lien's campaign spokespersons.
Critics, however, said that Lien is treading a delicate and calculated path to create a pro-reform image to attract the middle-class voters while not straying too far from Lee's course.
"The KMT assumes that to win the presidential election, they have to draw support from pro-Soong voters. Therefore, Lien has deliberately distanced himself from Lee,'' said Chin Heng-wei (
Nevertheless, Chin said: "Lien must risk losing pro-Lee native Taiwanese supporters.''
Lin agreed, saying that Lien's maneuver to differentiate himself from Lee could draw fire from both of his main opponents.
"Lien, by suggesting a confederation, has chosen a route more pro-unification compared with his past image as someone who is for maintaining the status-quo. That could dilute his power-base on the cross-strait issue,'' Lin said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique