Kaohsiung City Mayor and DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) will not decide which of his two posts he will give up until April, and the party will not make public potential candidates for the year-end Taipei City mayoral election until August.
"I have no idea why everybody demands an answer from me since the KMT and the PFP have not nominated their party candidates," Hsieh said before the party's weekly closed-door Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday afternoon.
It would be to his disadvantage to make an announcement now, Hsieh said.
"As soon as I make public my intent, they [the KMT and PFP] are certain to launch their counter strategies," he said. "It would do nothing but worsen national stability and satisfy the media's curiosity if I made the announcement now."
Phoenix Cheng (鄭運鵬), director of the DPP's Department of Culture and Information, echoed Hsieh's view.
"It'd be to the party's advantage to nominate potential candidates as late as possible since it's a common tactic to launch relentless attacks against your campaign rivals once the nomination is made," he said.
Cheng added that the party is placing its priority on the Cabinet reshuffle and the positions of the legislative speaker and vice speaker.
Media speculation has suggested that DPP lawmaker Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Chairwoman of the Council of Labor Affairs Chen Chu (陳菊) would be possible DPP candidates for the Kaohsiung City mayoral race. Both, however, have denied that they intend to run.
Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Huang Chi-chuan (黃啟川) of the KMT has made clear his intent to run in the race.
Among contestants who have announced their intent to run in the DPP chairmanship race are lawmaker Yen Ching-fu (顏錦福) and Senior Advisor to the President Yao Chia-wen (
As for the party's potential candidates for the Taipei City mayoral election, the decision will not be made until Aug. 1, when the new party chairman is scheduled to take office.
"Frankly speaking, the timing is not important. The candidate's capability and the party's campaign strategy are what matters," said Hsu Yang-ming (許陽明), deputy secretary-general of the DPP headquarters.
When asked whether the party endorses the proposal recently made by some members that the DPP may have to seek out potential candidates, Hsu failed to offer an affirmative or negative answer.
"It's merely a personal opinion of some party members," he said.
DPP lawmaker Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) proposed at the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting last Tuesday that the party should allow a non-DPP member to run under the party banner in the Taipei City mayoral election if it cannot find a suitable candidate within its ranks.
Some media reports have speculated that Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南), Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Yu Shyi-kun or Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), might represent the DPP in the Taipei City mayoral race.
RSS