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Legislative elections and referendums: Home Party may put up a presidential candidate

Former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh tells a press conference that the Home Party might nominate a presidential candidate if the party wins more than 5 percent of the vote in Saturday's legislative elections. PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES

The Home Party, founded by key members of the former anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) campaign, may nominate a presidential candidate if the party wins more than 5 percent of the vote for political parties during Saturday's legislative poll, campaign leader Shih Ming-teh (施明德) said yesterday.

Shih told a press conference that it was possible that former United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠) may run for president, but he declined to comment on whether he and Tsao would run on the same ticket.

In the new "single district, two-vote" system, voters will be able to choose their preferred party in addition to voting for a legislative candidate. A party must win more than 5 percent of the vote to gain legislator-at-large seats.

Shih accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of threatening the survival of smaller parties by running advertisements aimed at boosting voter support for them on Saturday.

Saying that a "corrupt" DPP and a KMT that upholds "black gold" politics may become the only two parties that remain in the legislature after the legislative poll, Shih called on voters to support the Home Party instead.

"If, like me, you are worried about Taiwan being disrupted by the wrangling between the pan-blue and the pan-green camps, are you willing to vote for Taiwan's hope? This is our humble request," he says in the party's new commercial.

"I must warn the KMT and the DPP against trying to `kill off' the smaller parties," Shih said, adding that they should not to underestimate the power of smaller parties.
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