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PFP and KMT ready to formalize their `alliance'

The pan-blue parties yesterday said they would turn their informal alliance into a formal pact tomorrow via videoconference.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his People First Party (PFP) counterpart, James Soong (宋楚瑜), will reach an accord tomorrow morning via videoconference to formalize the alliance between the parties.

It was not immediately clear how this would change the relationship between the two pan-blue parties, which have been ideologically and politically aligned since the PFP was formed in 2000.

Holiday

Soong is currently on vacation in San Francisco, California, after his defeat in last month's Taipei mayoral election.

The idea of formalizing the KMT-PFP alliance emerged during a private meeting last month between Ma and Soong.

The two said at the time that the top priority of the parties would be to coordinate a strategy for the legislative elections at the end of this year.

The KMT's Central Standing Committee passed a draft of the proposal to formalize the alliance on Jan. 3.

The committee also said that the KMT and the PFP would "negotiate" to field candidates for the legislative elections and 2008 presidential election.

KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and his PFP counterpart, Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生), will attend the video ceremony tomorrow at KMT headquarters, according to a statement released by the KMT.

The PFP was founded by Soong, a former KMT member who left the party under a cloud, after failing to secure its presidential candidacy in 2000, as well as being accused of embezzling party funds.

Weakened

Both parties sought to emphasize the establishment of a formal alliance as a move necessary to "increase cooperation" between the two parties. However, the PFP has been weakened in recent years by a series of electoral defeats and defections by prominent lawmakers to the KMT.

When the legislature is reduced by half next year, and the nation moves to a single-member district system, smaller political parties like the PFP will have a difficult time maintaining a meaningful presence in the Legislative Yuan.

The retirement of Soong has also left many party members questioning the long-term viability of the PFP.
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