Another party member who lost in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) primaries for the December legislative elections yesterday announced his intention to run in the election at the expense of his party membership.
The declaration of former legislator Fang Yi-liang (
Among them are Legislator Tseng Tsai Mei-tso (
`To the very end'
Legislator-at-large Lee Ho-shun (
Fang, from the Tainan County constituency, called into question the legitimacy of the primary system's opinion poll and demanded the party reveal what he claimed should have been "the true poll result."
The KMT's primary included two components. The first consisted of votes by party members, which carried a weight of 30 percent.
The second component, a public opinion poll, carried a weight of 70 percent.
This was the first time that such a method had been used in the party's primary to decide who would be recommended for the party's nominations.
authority
In view of some party members' insistence on running despite their failure to secure the party's nomination, some members called on the party to exercise authority and party discipline to get the situation under control, while others urged the party authorities to examine the primary system as a whole for improvement.
"What is the point of holding primaries if the result is that one can run [in the elections] even without the party's nomination?" said KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (
Taipei City Councilor Wang Hao (
Others directed their criticism at the party's Huang Fu Hsing (
Huang Fu Hsing is a special branch of the KMT whose members are military veterans or their family members.
high mobility
Due to the high mobility of the Huang Fu Hsing branch members, Chen said that party members who took part in the primary were mostly members of the branch.
Candidates supported by the branch, as a result, were likely to garner high numbers of votes in the primaries.
Saying that there were big gaps demonstrated in the primaries between the results of the party members' votes and the results of the opinion polls, Chen said that this also illustrated the big gap between party opinion and public opinion.
"The primary has much room for reform and improvement. Otherwise, it will be hard to meet the expectations of the general public," Chen said.
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