As the final day of campaigning came to a close, heavyweights from both the KMT and the PFP yesterday made an all-out effort for their joint candidate Hsieh Shen-shan (
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
At the rally, horns and cheers filled the air as the big guns from the pan-blue camp took their turns on stage to praise Hsieh.
KMT Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
Sisy Chen called President Chen Shui-bian (
In a bid to illustrate the pan-blue camp's solidarity, New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (
Both Lien and Soong called on Hualien pan-blue supporters to consolidate their votes for Hsieh in today's election.
"Don't waste a single vote; save your votes for Hsieh to guarantee good times ahead," Lien said.
The Hsieh camp, worried that many pan-blue supporters would vote for former KMT county commissioner Wu Kuo-tung (
Hsieh ran a letter on the front page of major Chinese-language newspapers yesterday echoing Lien's appeal for people not to waste their votes.
The letter, addressed to Wu and pan-blue supporters, said, "Given various poll results, Wu's chances of electoral victory are small. One vote for Wu means one step toward helping the pan-green camp."
"While the election is itself just a momentary event, [Wu and all pan-blue supporters] will, on the other hand, forever be my brothers no matter what the electoral outcome is," the letter said, adding that the letter was written not out of pride but out of brotherly sincerity.
Wu yesterday expressed confidence in his commissioner bid, saying that the Hsieh camp's appeal to "dump Wu and save Hsieh" would fail.
"The Hsieh camp wishes to score electoral victory by having people transfer their votes from me to Hsieh," Wu said. "The very fact that the Hsieh camp has resorted to the `dump-save effect' highlights its lack of confidence in its candidate."
Although he lacks support from the nation's political stars, Wu showed a 10?minute video clip of late KMT commissioner Chang Fu-hsing (
"I am the only one who can truly represent the voice of Hualien's people," he said after a day of leading a fleet of trucks around the county.
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