The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday it would soon hold polls to choose its candidates for the special municipality elections in December.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) is scheduled to visit Kaohsiung today to start negotiations with potential candidates. He visited Taichung last week to discuss election bids with several hopefuls, but failed to reach a consensus.
King acknowledged the difficulties of choosing candidates — especially in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung — and said the party would follow the nomination mechanism to determine the candidates via polls.
In Taichung, Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), Taichung County Council Deputy Speaker Chang Chuang-hsi (張壯熙) and KMT Legislator Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟) all voiced their intention to run.
As for greater Kaohsiung, former Taipei City Department of Labor Affairs commissioner Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) yesterday declared his intention to run and vowed to respect the poll results.
Su, who quit his Taipei post earlier this month over a labor dispute, said he discussed his intention with King on Monday and would give his full support to his rival, KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), if she beats him in the poll.
The KMT has also been having difficulties choosing a candidate in Tainan because Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) rejected King’s invitation to run.
The situation in Taipei and Sinbei City is less complicated, because Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) are expected to run in the two constituencies respectively.
The KMT said it would use poll results to dissuade other members from seeking representing the party in Taipei City and Sinbei City.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should avoid “parachuting” candidates for the Greater Taichung election, former Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.
In a veiled reference to speculation that former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) would be selected in Taichung, Lin said that bringing in candidates from outside could undermine the DPP’s efforts in the KMT stronghold.
“The public doesn’t want to see the DPP say: We want to win this or that city. What people want to see is [politicians] who come here to serve, who live here,” Lin said in an interview.
While Lin has already announced his intention to seek the DPP’s nomination in Taichung, Hsieh has previously said he would only consider such a move if asked to do so by the nine-member nomination team charged with selecting the party’s candidates in Taichung, Sinbei and Taipei cities ahead of the elections.
“Parachuting” candidates has become a thorny issue for the DPP. While party officials said the role of the nomination team was not limited to selecting local candidates, DPP politicians have reportedly spoken out against the measure.
DPP city councilors in Sinbei City ran a series of ads last week calling on the party to select “local talent,” while a group representing hundreds of party members held a press conference in Taichung on Monday asking for the same in the Greater Taichung race.
Meanwhile, former Taichung County DPP councilor Kuo Chun-ming (郭俊銘) also announced his candidacy for the party’s Taichung nomination yesterday on a platform that attacked Hu’s public safety record and promised to balance regional development.
In his announcement, held in Taichung County’s Fengyuan City (豐原), Kuo said that based on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) falling support in opinion polls, the DPP should be able to make large gains in Taichung before December.
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