DPP looks to ex-president to boost Lee

The DPP has pinned hopes on former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was unable to stir support for the party's candidate for Taipei mayor.

DPP Legislator Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌), who is running Lee Ying-yuan's (李應元) campaign, said the ruling party still has a good chance to unseat Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

Since the DPP earned 38 percent of the votes cast in Taipei in the 2000 presidential election, it could still win a simple majority if the former president campaigned for Lee Ying-yuan, Hong said.

"We believe most centrist voters who supported former president Lee would shift to us," Hong told reporters, dismissing opinion polls that show Ma far out front.

Pundits said it would be a difficult win for the DPP just five weeks from the election.

If the elections were held this week, Ma would earn 70 percent of the votes, compared to just 19 percent for Lee, a local television station poll conducted on Oct. 20 and 21 found.

Chen's campaigning for Lee Ying-yuan bolstered the candidate by only 5 percent in the polls, even after he accused Ma of disloyalty to Taiwan.

Ma has yet to turn negative in his campaign though he did reject Chen's allegations as efforts to avenge his loss in the 1998 mayoral race.

"I have no cards of president and premier to play [like my rival]. Nor do I have so many min-isters to march," Ma said at a campaign rally yesterday.

"What I have is only your support, your support only," he said.

Meanwhile, the former president is scheduled to leave for Japan on Nov. 23, a TSU spokesman said yesterday.

Hsiao Kuan-yu (蕭貫譽), director of the TSU's information department, said Lee Teng-hui has been invited to deliver a speech at Keio University as part of the school's birthday celebrations.

Hsiao said Lee Teng-hui has not yet applied for a visa.

"We believe that the possibility of Lee securing a visa is very high," he said.

Lee made a private visit to Japan in April last year to receive medical treatment. The visit sparked heated debate in the Japanese political arena and drew a strong protest from Beijing.

The Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun reported last month that Keio University's largest students' association -- Keizai Shinjin Kai (Economics Freshmen Associa-tion) -- had invited Lee Teng-hui to deliver a speech on the Jap-anese spirit to mark the school's founding anniversary.

The paper said that it was not clear whether the Japanese government would grant him an entry permit.