Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday called on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to join efforts to fight election bribery ahead of tomorrow’s legislative by-elections.
Visiting Taoyuan County yesterday morning to campaign for KMT candidate Chen Li-ling (陳麗玲), King said the party would spare no effort to end election bribery.
His remarks came in the wake of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) call for the KMT to eradicate vote-buying.
“Election bribery is a problem for both the KMT and the DPP, and we should join forces to change the situation and promote reform,” King said.
Three legislative by-elections will be held on Saturday in Taoyuan County, Taichung County and Taitung County.
When asked about KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) absence from the Taoyuan campaign events, King said the party would use the “chairman card” wisely and flexibly.
Ma is scheduled to visit local counties to stump for party candidates, and the road show will continue until Feb. 27, when legislative by-elections will be held in Hualien, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Taoyuan counties.
King said later in an interview with the Chinese-language United Evening News that he would focus his efforts on helping the party win the special municipality elections at the end of the year, because the result of the elections would be a major step toward the presidential election in 2012.
“People will call my appointment a failure if the KMT fails to do well in the special municipality elections,” he said.
King also defended Ma’s performance over the past two years in response to the president’s low approval ratings, and called on the public to give the Ma administration and the KMT more time to improve its performance.
“The public had high expectations of President Ma, and his performance may not have been up to the public’s expectations, but I don’t think his low support rate reflects the reality,” King said.
“Please give us a little time to make the right decisions on the right issues at the right time,” King added.
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