The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) remained mum on possible nominations for Sinbei City despite several media reports yesterday saying former premiers Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) or party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were potential candidates.
Attention to the party’s nominations for Sinbei City — an important political battleground — have increased following former premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) announcement on Wednesday that he would vie for the party’s nomination in Taipei City.
Su, the DPP frontrunner, who is riding high in opinion polls, was earlier said to have been deciding between Sinbei City — as Taipei County will be known after it is upgraded to a special municipality — and Taipei City. DPP officials have identified the two cities as priority zones, saying that winning them could give the party a boost in the 2012 presidential elections.
An internal party survey released by DPP Taipei City councilors on Monday showed that a large number of party members, or 46.7 percent, supported a bid by Yu.
Support for Hsieh came in at 32.3 percent, followed by that for former DPP caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) at 19 percent.
Hsieh, who had said he would withdraw from politics following his defeat in the 2008 presidential election, has said he will only “consider” taking part in the election if asked to do so by the DPP.
Chen has also said he will respect the party’s final nomination decision.
While Yu has said he will respect a nine-member nomination team set up by Tsai to handle potential nominees in the year-end elections, a Facebook page called “Supporters for Yu to participate in the Sinbei City elections” had attracted 281 fans as of press time yesterday.
The survey did not take into account a bid by former Taipei County commissioner You Ching (尤清), who announced on Monday that he would vie for the party’s nomination in Sinbei.
In response to media queries yesterday afternoon, Tsai tried to play down media speculation, saying the nomination team was still deliberating and called on the media to await a final decision.
“The public should not read too much into this. We must let the nomination team deliberate, it is their job,” Tsai said.
However, responding to a later question of whether she was willing to participate in the elections herself, Tsai set off a new media frenzy when she answered: “We will let the team discuss this, too; it has nothing to do with will.”
Meanwhile, two separate surveys by the Chinese dailies United Daily News and the Apple Daily yesterday showed a large discrepancy in support between Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Su.
The United Daily News opinion poll showed Hau’s approval rating at 46 percent compared with 37 percent for Su. Among respondents, 40 percent thought Hau would be able to get elected for a second term, while 32 percent thought that Su would be able to win the spot for the DPP.
However, a telephone survey conducted by the Apple Daily showed that 47 percent of Taipei City residents would vote for Su if the vote was held tomorrow compared with 39 percent for Hau.
In the United Daily News survey, 46 percent of respondents believed Su would not serve out his term to vie for the presidential election in 2012, compared with 38 percent who thought his promise to complete his tenure if elected mayor was sincere.
An internal DPP party poll leaked yesterday by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), meanwhile, showed both candidates to be roughly tied at 50 percent, with Su holding a slight lead.
Speaking in response to polls yesterday, DPP Spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said Su’s rapid rise in numbers showed Taipei residents’ dissatisfaction with Hau and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
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