Opposition seeks formula to select a joint candidate

Three opposition nominees for the Taipei County commissioner's election will meet to try and agree on a single candidate to represent the opposition alliance.

Holding opinion polls on the question has been suggested as a way to decide the matter, but the nominees still differ on the technical details of the proposed exercise.

Meeting of the nominees

PFP Deputy Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生), his party's nominee, has arranged a meeting with the New Party's Wang Chien-shien for Monday and will then visit the KMT's Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉).

Chin yesterday said, "I would accept the opinion-poll proposal if the polls are designed in such a way as to measure the nominees' potential to win, and not only their level of fame."

Chin argued that the chosen candidate must win the support of neutral voters and not merely supporters of the opposition alliance. He also said a key factor should be the candidate's ability to unite local political factions, Chin said.

Chin proposed that in addition to the approval ratings of the individual nominees, the polls should take into account the approval ratings of their parties and policy platforms.

He added that he would prefer conducting the polls well after the nominees have hit the campaign trail.

According to a number of polls released to date, Chin's approval ratings have lagged behind his two opposition rivals.

While the incumbent commissioner, the DPP's Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has the highest approval rating, the New Party's Wang Chien-shien, a former Minister of Finance, is second.

Wang, who has stated explicitly that he would not run without the endorsement of both the KMT and PFP, said yesterday that he would abide by any mutual party decision on how the polls are conducted.

The KMT and PFP planned to cooperate in a total of six localities, but so far such cooperation has not been forthcoming. The New Party originally had no intention of taking part in the plan.

Politicians from the alliance have urged leaders of the three parties to meet immediately to resolve the deadlock.

Chao Shou-po (趙守博), chairman of the KMT's Organization and Development Committee, concurred that it is urgent for the three opposition parties to unite to beat the DPP's Su.

If the opposition can agree on plans to cooperate in elections for county commissioners and city mayors, the alliance should be able to win more than half the posts up for grabs, Chao said.

Bad blood

However, Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), director of the PFP's Center of Policy Research, said a summit of the three parties should only be held after New Party convener Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大) officially announces her party's intention to take part.

Chang added that the atmosphere for cooperation was seriously damaged after Hsieh repeatedly attacked the PFP.