New Party co-founder Wang Chien-shien yesterday officially announced his bid to vie for the opposition alliance's nomination for the hotly-contested election for Taipei County commissioner.
Wang said he will not run in the race unless he gets the blessing of the KMT and PFP because the intent of his bid was to encourage cooperation between the opposition parties.
"The three opposition parties should unite and cooperate. Otherwise, neither Lin Jih-jia (
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, LIBERTY TIMES
"If the three parties continue to refuse to cooperate and only consider their own interests, I would suggest that we stop thinking about running. It would be better to save the money [needed for the campaign] for disaster relief," Wang added.
Wang said it is time for the leaders of the three parties to sit down and hammer out a fair and reasonable method, such as holding opinion polls, to decide who should represent the alliance in the race.
Though the KMT and PFP leadership have long planned to cooperate in the race, they have failed to reach an agreement on the candidacy.
In a development that was widely considered a sign the cooperation plan had failed, the KMT nominated Lin, a lawmaker, for the post in July, while the PFP nominated Chin, its deputy secretary-general, last week.
The New Party has over the past month strongly recommended that the three parties jointly support Wang, a former minister of finance, as their candidate.
In preparation for the bid, Wang moved his household registration to Taipei County in late July.
"I believe there is still a chance for the opposition alliance to cooperate, especially under the pressure of the alliance's supporters. I don't think the three parties will dare go against the wishes of the people," Wang said.
Both Lin and Wang have expressed support for a proposal to hold opinion polls to decide the candidate. Chin, however, suggested that each party's candidate should be given some time to rally support before the polls are conducted.
Justin Chou (
Agreeing with Wang, Chou said that if the three parties insisted on supporting separate candidates, the DPP's Su Tseng-chang (
Chou said the KMT would try to finalize the cooperation plan as soon as possible. Public polls have shown that over 60 percent of Taipei County residents expect the three opposition parties to cooperate and jointly support one candidate for the post.
Lin yesterday said he would wait for the party leadership to sort out the problem.
"My goal is to beat Su Tseng-chang. I'll do my best to win as much support as possible," Lin said.
The PFP leadership said they welcome Wang's decision to join the cooperation plan and will make a decision as to how they are going to deal with the matter very soon.
"The three parties will seek to cooperate and, either through opinions polls or other methods, select the best candidate," said Chang Hsien-yao (
Chin, meanwhile, said he would visit Lin and Wang in the next few days to exchange views.
Chin reiterated that he does not oppose using opinion polls but the timing of the polls should be taken into consideration.
Chin also suggested that in addition to measuring the approval rating of individual candidates, the polls should take into account the amount of support behind each political party to ensure the polls are accurate.
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