Put KMT membership fee issue to a vote, Wang says

In the latest development in the run-up to the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) July chairmanship election, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), a candidate for the party's chairmanship, yesterday said yesterday that a dispute over party members' voting rights should be put to a vote.

"A proposal has already been made to the [KMT's] Central Standing Committee that party members who have not paid their party dues be allowed to vote in the July chairmanship elections," Wang said yesterday at the legislature.

"If negotiations on the issue are not successful, then the only way to resolve the situation is by voting on the issue," he added.

Wang was responding to the recent party dispute between himself and chairmanship candidate and Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). The dispute relates to whether or not members of the KMT who have defaulted on membership fees should be allowed to vote in the chairmanship election. While Wang thinks they should be allowed, Ma and his supporters have been against it, as the move is seen favoring Wang's election chances.

Responding to Wang's suggestion yesterday, Ma said to reporters that he would not object to a vote on the issue.

However, more research must be done into the party member details before such a vote should be held, Ma said.

The KMT's organization and development committee is currently looking into the situation and will not be releasing a report on its findings until the end of April, Ma said. While it is estimated that the KMT has around 1,090,000 members, no one knows for sure what the actual number of members is and how many members have paid their party fees. An exact figure will be given when the report comes out, Ma said.

A decision on a vote should be made only after those figures are released, Ma added.

The KMT's chairmanship election will be held July 16.