With five candidates standing side-by-side pledging to achieve victory, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday formally announced its candidates for November’s special municipality elections.
Accepting the nomination as the KMT candidate for Sinbei City (Taipei County’s name after it is upgraded), Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) promised to develop the nation’s biggest special municipality by seeking close cooperation with the central government, Taipei City and Taoyuan County.
“It is my honor to represent the KMT in Sinbei, and Sinbei residents need a mayor who can benefit from close cooperation with the central government,” he said at KMT headquarters.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
Chu is expected to formally announce his resignation as vice premier this morning at the Government Information Office.
The KMT’s nominee in Greater Tainan, former legislator Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財), said he would devote himself to the tough battle ahead in the city, a pan-green stronghold.
The other three candidates included Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who will represent the party in Taipei City, Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) representing Greater Taichung and KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) running in Greater Kaohsiung.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as KMT chairman, praised the upcoming elections as an achievement of reforms to the local government system while expressing his confidence in the five candidates.
“The special municipality elections will help bring the competitiveness of the five special municipalities into full play ... The five candidates are top talents with great experience and integrity. I have full confidence in them,” Ma said at KMT headquarters.
Remapping the districts to raise the country’s competitiveness was one of Ma’s campaign promises. The legislature passed the amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) in January, merging six cities and counties into three special municipalities, while upgrading Taipei County into a special municipality.
Presenting party flags to each of the five, Ma used a slogan using a combination of their names and their homonyms— Chao Tsai Hau Chiang Li (昭財郝強力) — to encourage them to bring wealth and competitiveness to the local governments.
Earlier yesterday, Hau officially declared his intention to seek re-election.
“I was born in Taipei City, and Taipei is my hometown. I know what Taipei residents need,” Hau said at Baoan Temple in Taipei.
Surrounded by Taipei City KMT councilors, borough chiefs and supporters, Hau dismissed speculation that he chose the temple to challenge his potential rival, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as Su also declared his intention to run at the temple in March.
Hau said he visits the temple on a regular basis, including yesterday, when he prayed for the success of November’s Taipei International Flora Expo. Most of the expo’s pavilions will be located near the temple in Datong District (大同).
Meanwhile, a Cabinet official speaking on condition of anonymity said last night that Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) would succeed Chu as vice premier, with the handover ceremony scheduled for Monday.
Earlier yesterday in the legislature’s Finance Committee, Chen confirmed that he had been asked if he was interested in taking over the vice premiership.
A graduate of the Graduate Institute of Law at National Taiwan University and a scholar of German Academic Exchange Service at the University of Frankfurt, Chen has served as deputy finance minister, chief of the finance ministry’s finance bureau and department of insurance, president of the Taiwan Stock Exchange and president of the Taiwan Cooperation Bank.
Chu initially planned to tender his resignation last night, but it was postponed as the KMT’s Central Standing Committee that approved his nomination ran late.
His letter of resignation will be sent to Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) office tomorrow at the earliest, according to Wu’s office.
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