The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has chosen at least four out of five candidates to run in the year-end special municipality mayoral elections, a local report said.
Quoting unnamed sources, the Central News Agency (CNA) said that the DPP＊s nomination team is set to confirm two of its nominees 〞 former premiers Su Tseng-chang (妶?荻) and Yu Shyi-kun (蚔屧?) to run in Taipei City and Sinbei City respectively.
Su＊s nomination is in line with predictions that he is best positioned to take on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Mayor Hau Lung-bin (甄?棄).
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (?擅) and DPP Legislator William Lai (?ь肅), fresh from their victories in party primaries, will run in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan respectively.
While the DPP used opinion polls in Tainan and Kaohsiung, a nomination team was charged with choosing candidates in Taipei, Sinbei and Greater Taichung.
The Greater Taichung election has been more of a headache for the election team, which reportedly had been unwilling to nominate former Cabinet spokesperson Lin Chia-lung (輿槽?), who had expressed an interest in the post.
Lin yesterday announced that he was withdrawing from the race, fueling rumors that DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (妶樁?) would be chosen.
Su Jia-chyuan remained low-key, however, saying he hoped the nomination team would first take a closer look at other candidates.
As head of the selection team, Su has said before that he was not interested in running.
The DPP refused to confirm or deny the CNA report, which cited high-level party officials.
Party spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (絆む荻) said that nothing would be finalized until May 19 at the earliest, after the team submits a formal request to nominate its recommended candidates to the DPP＊s Central Standing Committee.
The party＊s self-imposed deadline for the nominations is before the end of this month, while the year-end elections are set to take place on Nov. 27.
In related news, the DPP announced yesterday that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (絆荎恅) and other party officials are expected to take part in a protest in front of the legislature on May 20, the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou＊s (醪荎嬝) inauguration.
The demonstration, organized by pro-independence organizations and former premier Frank Hsieh (珴墿祂) will span three days.
Protest organizers have said that the May 20 rally is a warm-up for a bigger demonstration that will take place next month, before the government plans to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, which they oppose.
Tsai Chi-chang said the DPP will be planning the larger rally, which is expected to replace a series of smaller protests initially planned by other pro-independence groups, including one previously announced to take place on June 6.
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