Legislator Ho to quit TSU and run as DPP candidate

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Ho Min-hao (何敏豪) said yesterday he would join the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and represent the party in January's legislative elections.

Ho beat DPP Legislator Wang Shih-hsun (王世勛) in an opinion poll held to determine the best candidate to represent the pan-green camp in Taichung's 3rd district.

Ho told the Central News Agency that the TSU and DPP had been unable to negotiate a single candidate for the district, adding that he would therefore quit the TSU and represent the DPP in the election.

The TSU had urged the DPP to make the decision based on the results of the opinion poll.

Ho said he that he was confident he would win the seat for the DPP.

He said that he had tried to contact former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the TSU's spiritual leader, to inform Lee of his decision.

Meanwhile, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) yesterday downplayed Ho's withdrawal from the party, saying that the focal point of the TSU's election strategy was its legislators-at-large.

Regarding district legislators, Huang said the party "has a strategy," but declined to go into detail.

Ho had been mulling a party switch, announcing last week that he would decide whether to join the DPP before today.

Huang had said that he believed Ho would be a wise choice for the pan-green camp, in spite of pressure from the DPP to have a DPP candidate.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited Ho in Taichung City last week to discuss the possibility of joining the DPP.

Ho is the fifth of the TSU's 12 incumbent legislators to quit the party. The other four are Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙), Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源), Yin Ling-ying (尹伶瑛) and David Huang (黃適卓).

TSU legislators Tseng Tsahn-deng (曾燦燈) and Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) have dropped out of the district legislator races. Lo, however, has secured a place on the party's list of legislator-at-large candidates. Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) is the only sitting TSU legislator seeking re-election as a district legislator.