Several members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Executive Committee have suggested that a city-wide opinion poll be held before the scheduled May 28 party primary to determine who should represent the party in the year-end mayoral election in Kaohsiung, a DPP official said yesterday.
Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), director of the DPP's Department of Culture and Information, made the remarks as the choice of a party candidate hung in the balance after former Premier Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) recent comments.
Instead of endorsing former Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) or Legislator Kuan Pi-ling (管碧玲) -- two DPP hopefuls who have registered to take part in the primary -- Hsieh backed acting Kaohsiung Mayor Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), claiming that she was the most capable of "uniting all factions" and had the best chance of winning, even though she had not registered as a candidate.
Even if Kuan won the primary, Hsieh said he would try to persuade her to yield the candidacy to Yeh.
In response, both Kuan and Chen agreed to take things back to square one by setting a new registration date for aspirants. But Yeh, in view of her long-standing friendship with Chen, refused to register, making the situation even murkier.
Tsai said members of the DPP's Central Standing Committee had suggested holding an opinion poll to help solve the problem.
If Chen wins the poll, it would lessen resistance to her participation, but if Yeh scored highest, then she could be the party's candidate, Tsai said.
But Tsai stressed that the suggestion would first have to get the consent of all parties involved.
He noted that with the approach of party members' voting on May 28, the party would coordinate with everyone involved, hoping to produce an acceptable candidate.
The primary will comprise of a vote on May 28 and a poll of Kaohsiung residents in early June. The vote will account for 30 percent of the total for potential candidates, while the opinion poll will account for 70 percent.
Meanwhile, Chao Wen-nan (趙文男), director of the DPP's Kaohsiung chapter, said that all potential candidates to the Kaohsiung City councilor elections, which will be held simultaneously with the mayoral election, will have to follow set procedures in reporting campaigning irregularities, instead of making reckless accusations in the media.
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