A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker called yesterday for immediate cooperation with the People First Party (PFP) in an effort to help the pan-blue camp win next year's legislative elections and the 2008 presidential race.
Dismissing a local media report, Legislator Hsu Shu-po (許舒博), from Yunlin County, said that he favors strong collaboration between the two parties to secure victory for the pan-blue camp in the two important elections.
Lawmakers of the two parties should play a leading role in the matter, Shu said, and he demanded that the KMT's legislative caucus hold a meeting to explore the possibility and refer the meeting's conclusions to the party for consultation.
Shu said that both he and PFP Policy Center director Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) agreed that the two parties must work closely and set up a national team if they hope to win the 2008 presidential election as well as next year's legislative polls.
"It is impossible to secure victory in the 2008 presidential race with efforts from just one side," he said.
Cautious
Meanwhile, KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
Tsai said that he needed more time to study the issue, as some KMT lawmakers differ on the issue of how the party should forge cooperation with the PFP.
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (
The KMT is fully sincere in honoring its promise to collaborate with the PFP and is determined to promote the establishment of a formal alliance between the two parties, Chan said, adding that he maintains close contacts with his PFP counterpart Chin Ching-sheng (
Negotiations
The KMT will definitely negotiate with the PFP to field the best candidates in next year's legislative elections to ensure a stable pan-blue majority in the seventh Legislative Yuan, whose seats will be slashed by half to just 113, Chan said.
During the KMT's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting last week, a conclusion was also reached that the party should reinforce its cooperation with the PFP and build a formal political alliance with it -- a consensus reached between PFP Chairman James Soong (
The proposed new alignment between the two parties will come into force once the two chairmen ink a formal deal to endorse its establishment following due procedures within their parties, he explained.
The KMT and the PFP already form a loose pan-blue alliance together with the small New Party against the pan-green camp of the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
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