DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday the party would nominate its own candidate to run against popular Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the year-end Taipei mayoral election.
"In principle, we will nominate our own person. However, we'll take a non-party member into account if he or she is genuinely a good, suitable candidate," Hsieh said.
Hsieh made the remark in response to the TSU's proposal that Annie Lee (李安妮), the youngest child of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), represent the TSU in the election.
Some TSU lawmakers proposed yesterday that the DPP jointly endorse Lee if it cannot find a suitable candidate within its ranks.
When asked whether he sees Lee as a "good" candidate, Hsieh said that "she is a good candidate, but there are many good candidates out there. ? The best candidate shouldn't be just a good one, but the best of the best."
Meanwhile, taxi drivers worried that the DPP might lose ground in the election by waiting too long to name a candidate, appealed to the party in front of DPP headquarters yesterday.
They requested that the party put Chairwoman of the Council for Hakka Affairs Yeh Chu-lan (
Chanting "knock down Ma Ying-jeou, support Yeh Chu-lan," about 20 taxi drivers parked their cabs outside the building.
The group was led by Chen Hung-jung (陳宏榮), a DPP candidate for the Taipei City council elections.
Chen presented a makeshift petition letter to Toby Kuo (
Chen said it's time for Taipei City to have a female mayor.
"She's one of the few outstanding female DPP members who has the guts to push for reforms and to take on heavy responsibilities," he said.
A volunteer rescue worker for more than 10 years, Chen said that he knows Ma firsthand and has experience with the mayor during times of crisis.
"He's a big disappointment in terms of responding to emergencies," he said.
"I've participated in the relief efforts of the 921 earthquake, Typhoon Nari and the 331 earthquake, but I've never seen him at the scene during the most critical 48 hours after the disaster."
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