KMT confident ahead of elections

The KMT predicts it will garner 90 to 92 seats in the legislative elections. That estimate includes 17 legislators at-large and three overseas legislators. The party is fielding 97 candidates for the constituency races and expects to win 70 to 72 seats.

The party's Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) said he is confident the KMT will remain the largest party in the Legislative Yuan, holding about 10 more seats than the DPP. In the local elections, the KMT says it will win at least seven mayoral and county commissioner positions.

Lin said KMT candidates for local elections are leading opinion polls in Taoyuan, Yunlin, Hualien and Penghu counties, Hsinchu and Taichung cities and Kinmen.

Lin also said that the KMT will focus on calling for unity within the "pan-blue" camp -- which includes the KMT, PFP and New Party -- in the last 10 days of the campaign.

"If the pan-blue camp supporters don't concentrate their votes on the KMT, the DPP will certainly reap the windfall," Lin said.

People First Party Secretary-General David Chung (鍾榮吉) also expressed confidence when asked about the party's performance in the year-end elections.

"The PFP will not only grab 40 to 45 legislative seats, but will also make some breakthroughs in mayor and commissioner elections," Chung said.

Sandwiched between the ruling DPP, which has strong political resources, the KMT and the New Party, which call on pan-blue supporters to "return" to their fold, the PFP is playing its two trump cards -- promoting its party image and appealing to voters in order to translate support for party chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) into support for its candidates.

Chung said that even though some PFP candidates face tough fights because of low popularity, the PFP will not resort to underhanded antics.

Instead, Chung emphasized, the PFP will present the party's real essence and invite the public to work with the party to launch political and economic reforms by sending its candidates into the Legislative Yuan.

Soong's stance on the issues that concern voters the most -- the crackdown on "black-gold," peace between the two sides across the Taiwan Strait and economic reforms -- are more popular among voters than those of DPP President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), Chung said.