The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus will hold a straw poll to decide on its deputy legislative speaker candidate tomorrow afternoon after a closed-door negotiation held by KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday failed to agree to select a single nominee from the six candidates.
"I exchanged views with the six party members and we reached a consensus that we will show that the party remains united despite the competition," Wu said after the meeting at KMT headquarters.
He said the party caucus would hold the straw poll at 3pm tomorrow to select the nominee.
"Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and I do not have a preferred candidate. The six legislators are all fully qualified and we will give our blessing to whoever gets selected," Wu said.
The six candidates -- KMT legislators John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄), Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and KMT caucus whip Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) -- signed a joint statement during the meeting promising not to attack other candidates, damage party unity or to manipulate the nomination procedure.
Chanting "go, go KMT" hand-in-hand after the meeting, the six candidates also vowed to respect the nomination mechanism and give their full support to the winning nominee.
When approached for comment, Shyu said he was competing for the position in order to serve the people, rather than eyeing more power for himself.
He denied being Ma's preferred candidate because of his clean image and for being an advocate for the disabled.
"Ma maintains a good relationship with each of the six candidates. Engaging in such groundless speculation is putting him in a difficult position," he said.
Hung, on the other hand, expressed her determination to seek the position and said the party would determine who the best nominee was through the poll.
Wang yesterday defended the party's nomination mechanism and urged the public to respect the procedure, whereby there was a negotiation before holding the poll.
"Each party has its own mechanism, The Democratic Progressive Party also decided on its candidates through negotiation," he said yesterday after attending an event in Taipei.
When asked to comment on KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih's (吳敦義) failure to join the competition following widespread speculation that he would, Wu Poh-hsiung said Wu Den-yih had never mentioned an interest to him.
Wu Poh-hsiung said any candidate who decided to withdraw from the competition should express their intention to do so by 10am tomorrow morning.
The party will confirm the nomination during its central standing committee meeting on Wednesday.
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