A proposal to speed up the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) nomination process for the year-end special municipality elections in Kaohsiung City drew mixed reactions from the two candidates yesterday.
The party originally planned to make a final decision on its nominations in Greater Kaohsiung (the combined municipality of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County) and Greater Tainan (the combined municipality of Tainan City and Tainan County) by May 19, five days after it completes opinion polls.
However, a recent spat between Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Kaohsiung Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) has led some party officials to suggest the nomination process be sped up to stop attacks between the two from further damaging the party.
Speaking with reporters yesterday, Yang said he was against the move, adding that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) did not bring it up during a recent meeting between.
“Of course I am against this. [The original timetable] was passed by the party’s standing committee ... it has already been set,” Yang said.
Meanwhile, sources close to Chen said she had no opinion on proposals to speed up the process and that she would respect the party’s decision on the matter.
Opinion polls show public support for Yang has consistently trailed behind Chen’s.
A recent TVBS poll showed that both of the DPP’s potential nominees had higher support than Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) if he were to run as the representative of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Chen also had a bigger lead than Yang over Wang.
The row between the two began on Friday after Yang alleged that Chen had him followed during his campaign stops in Kaohsiung City and compared the mayor’s tactics to the White Terror era. Chen denied the allegations and asked Yang to provide evidence to back his allegations.
Media reports yesterday said that Tsai and DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) were concerned about the matter and fear that party in-fighting could damage the party’s interests in this important political battleground.
While Tsai, Su and members of a nine-person nomination team have already met the two candidates to discuss the issue, media reports yesterday said Tsai had expressed an interest in moving the nomination process in Kaohsiung forward.
The article said Tsai was considering sending the proposal to the DPP’s standing committee for approval if the row continues.
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