Opposition parties to select a joint candidate with poll

In a bid to revive flagging plans to cooperate, two members of the opposition alliance announced yesterday they would hold an opinion poll to choose a joint candidate for the Taipei County commissioner elections.

The decision was made during a meeting between KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and New Party convener Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大).

The move follows the People First Party's (PFP) announcement last week that it would not field a candidate.

In regard to the agreement, KMT spokesman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said the two parties would respect the opinions of the two nominees -- the KMT's Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) and the New Party's Wang Chien-shien -- and arrange a meeting of the two men "in the very near future" to hammer out details of the polls.

"The two parties agree to continue seeking cooperation, with the goal of more closely integrating the opposition alliance," Wang said.

According to Hsieh, the New Party and the KMT continue to expect the PFP to support the cooperation plan in Taipei County. "We think that the three parties should unite," Hsieh said.

"That's why both the KMT and New Party have strongly expressed our intention to include the PFP [in the discussion over the opinion polls], whether it's in Taipei County or any other county."

PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) announced last week that the party would withdraw from commissioner races in Taipei and Kaohsiung Counties after Lien failed to commit to supporting the PFP's candidates.

There had originally been an agreement between Lien and Soong that the KMT would support PFP candidates in those two counties.

But the KMT nominated Lin, a legislator, late last month for Taipei County commissioner after former minister of justice Liao Cheng-hao (廖正豪), the candidate favored by the PFP, refused to run.

The PFP nominated its Deputy Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) for the race early this month.

The New Party's Wang later decided to vie for opposition alliance support to run in Taipei County.

For the Kaohsiung County race, the PFP nominated lawmaker Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), but the KMT wants to nominate a candidate it believes is more likely to win.

PFP spokesman Liao Tsang-song (廖蒼松) yesterday said that the party would not participate in the KMT-New Party discussion of plans to hold opinion polls to select candidates in Taipei County, since it had already withdrawn from the race.

"Only the contestants should discuss the rules. What the PFP intends to do now is work on our legislative campaign," Liao said.

The KMT's Lin, however, proposed that the PFP "monitor" the conducting of the opinion polls.

"The polls must be meaningful and reflect the thinking opposition alliance as a whole. We won't let the PFP feel alienated just because it doesn't have a nominee in the campaign," Lin said.

As for the Kaohsiung County race, Chung yesterday reaffirmed his resolve to continue to run, despite Soong's decision that the PFP would not nominate a candidate.

Chung said that he is confident of winning the commissioner's post, based on the broad support he has received from local residents.

Chung said he will try to persuade Soong to change his mind and let him represent the party in the race.