Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday dismissed allegations that Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) was forced to give up his re-election bid because of rumors that the party had been spreading about him.
“I learned about Chou’s alleged complaints of some party officials spreading rumors about him from the media,” King said, adding that he would meet Chou after Saturday’s legislative by-election to talk about his decision not to run in the year-end mayoral election for Sinbei City (新北市), as Taipei County will be known after it is upgraded to a municipality.
Chou on Monday announced that he was giving his mayoral election bid and giving his support to Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫), who in all polls was leading from a pool of pan-blue prospects.
In response to the allegations that Chou made the announcement amid recent attacks over his alleged poor performance from some top KMT members, King said he did not know about the rumors.
Chou yesterday dismissed allegations that King and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, forced him to withdraw from the race.
“President Ma told me that he saw the press conference on Monday, and he was touched,” Chou said.
He also defended Ma’s claim that he learned about Chou’s decision from the newspapers.
“President Ma talked to me twice about the year-end election, but I didn’t tell him about my decision not to join the race,” Chou said.
Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the KMT was ruthless in its refusal to support the beleaguered commissioner.
“Chou clearly wanted to run for re-election, but was abandoned by his own party,” Su said. “In the next 10 months ... the commissioner can only huddle in his office and watch [Chu] campaign around the county.”
He called the move a calculated political ploy designed to draw him into the Sinbei City election fray. Su is widely believed to be the top DPP contender in the Sinbei City election.
“Postponing the elections for the [new] municipalities [from last year] was targeted at me. Chou’s [announcement on Monday] was also targeted at me,” Su said.
Su said he would make his intentions known after Saturday’s legislative by-elections.
An opinion poll released yesterday suggested that the KMT may face a tight election battle as it showed a rise in support for Su as Sinbei City mayor.
The poll, conducted by the Chinese-language China Times, showed that Su, who had served two terms as Taipei County commissioner, would have an 11-point lead over Chu if the elections were held tomorrow.
The poll said that between the two, Su would gather 40 percent of the popular vote, while Chu would receive 29 percent. It associated Su’s high ratings with the negative fallout arising from Chou’s surprise announcement and its impact on many of his supporters.
A previous poll conducted by the China Times showed that a faceoff between the two would have resulted in 41 percent support for Su and 36 percent for Chu.
Sinbei City will be the largest administrative district nationwide by population and winning it is seen as an important indicator of the 2012 presidential elections. DPP officials said on Monday they feared that by pitting Su against Chu, Ma would face one less obstacle in his re-election bid.
Yet party officials said it was unclear whether the DPP has any choice.
The China Times poll also showed that Su had the highest support among DPP heavyweights, including former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Poll results showed that if the elections took place tomorrow, Tsai would trail Chu, 27 percent to 40 percent. Meanwhile, both Hsieh and Yu would lose to Chu by more than 20 percent.
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