Lo declares candidacy for mayor

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) yesterday announced his candidacy in December's Kaohsiung mayoral election, but said that he is willing to negotiate the matter with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), since many DPP members have voiced their ambitions for the job.

Both the Kaohsiung and Taipei mayoral elections have attracted a flood of candidates, since serving in one of the two positions is seen as a pre-condition for a presidential nomination in both the pan-blue and pan-green camps.

Lo, who also serves as TSU secretary-general, announced his candidacy at a news conference in Kaohsiung City yesterday. Lo's election bid was endorsed by TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強), TSU legislators and Kaohsiung City councilors.

"Although Kaohsiung City has changed a lot under the DPP's governance, it has also suffered through the city council speakership bribery scandal and the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal, and has had three different mayors over the past four years. Kaohsiung citizens need a new leader to usher in a new era for them," Lo said yesterday.

Lo claimed that although a dozen people have already voiced their aspirations for the position of Kaohsiung mayor, some of them had done so to serve their own interests, and not those of Kaohsiung's citizens.

"I'm a legislator elected by Kaohsiung citizens and I know what local people's real needs are," Lo said.

Former Cabinet spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) took over as acting Kaohsiung mayor after former Kaohsiung mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) stepped down to serve as premier. However, Chen tendered his resignation as a result of the KRTC scandal, in which his father, Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), former deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, was allegedly involved. Former adviser to the president Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) currently serves as acting Kaohsiung mayor.

Since former chairwoman of the Council of Labor Affairs Chen Chu (陳菊), DPP Legislator Kuan Pi-ling (管碧玲) and even Chen Chi-mai have already announced their candidacies, the Kaohsiung mayoral election will be keenly contested by the pan-green camp.

Lo said that he hoped the TSU and the DPP could cooperate with each other in Kaohsiung as they are for next month's Chiayi City legislative by-election.

"I will accept whoever is chosen as the pan-green camp's candidate in the primary polls," Lo said.