People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday denied a media report that he is likely to be appointed president of the Control Yuan under the incoming Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
Speaking through a party aide, Soong said the KMT has not discussed with him matters related to personnel appointments since the conclusion of the March 22 presidential election.
The two parties have also not touched upon issues regarding the settlement of the PFP's NT$80 million in debt, Soong said.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞), who formerly belonged to the PFP and maintains close contact with Soong, also said that the KMT has not consulted with the PFP chairman about assuming the presidency of the Control Yuan.
Soong, formerly a KMT heavyweight, founded the PFP in 2000 after he failed in his independent bid to win the presidency earlier that year. Soong had failed to secure the KMT's presidential nomination and quit the party before launching his own campaign.
He joined the 2004 presidential election as the running mate of then KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), but the bid also failed by a slim margin.
In 2006, Soong ran in the Taipei mayoral election and suffered a crushing defeat by garnering less than 5 percent of the vote. Soong announced after the election that he would quit politics for good.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) said in a report published yesterday that president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is planning to nominate Soong to head the Control Yuan as part of a package deal for a KMT-PFP merger.
In the event of a merger, the PFP is likely to have the KMT help deal with the party's NT$80 million debt, the report said.
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