Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was not involved in the reshuffling of party personnel, but added that he respected Ma’s opinions on major party affairs.
“President Ma will not interfere with party personnel issues before taking over as party chairman,” Wu said yesterday at KMT headquarters, but added that he will consult with Ma in drawing up the list of central committee members and in other personnel cases.
Wu made the remarks in response to allegations that Ma planned to form a “vice chairman team” of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Taoyuan County Commissioner Eric Chu (朱立倫), KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi (吳敦義) and Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) after taking over the chairmanship.
In response to former KMT legislator Hsu Shu-po’s (?? alleged decision to run in the Yunlin County Commissioner election as an independent candidate after his nomination as the next chairperson of Taipei Financial Center Corp was reversed by the Cabinet, Wu Den-yi said Hsu had already withdrawn from the party’s primary and urged him to respect party procedure.
“We believe Hsu will respect the party’s primary mechanism. The Yunlin County commissioner election is a tough battle for the KMT ... I hope he will take the overall situation into consideration,” he said.
Hsu yesterday failed to show up at a press conference he had planned to discuss the subject.
The KMT announced its schedule for the chairman election as well as those for Central Committee and Central Standing Committee members yesterday.
The chairmanship election will be held on July 26. Ma is the only candidate in the election after Wu Poh-hsiung said he would not run.
The elections for Central Committee and Central Standing Committee members will be held on Aug. 16 and Sept. 6 respectively.
The new chairman will formally take over on Sept. 12.
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