The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is struggling to choose candidates for Sinbei City and Greater Taichung in the year-end elections. Sources close to the party say this is the reason for the delay in releasing a full list of mayoral candidates for the November elections, that according to an announcement on May 13 will be finalized no later than May 26.
Officials attempted to downplay the extension, saying the party needs more time to complete polls in the two areas.
Speaking with the Taipei Times last week, DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), who has the final say on nominations, said the party needed the poll numbers in order to make a more conclusive assessment in the two municipalities.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Other members of the nine-person team in charge of the selection process have so-far remained tightlipped on whether the delay implies any changes to its final list of candidates, which was reported by the Central News Agency to have been all but finalized last week.
Quoting unnamed sources, that report said that the team was set to confirm the nominations of former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) in Sinbei City, the name Taipei County will be known by after it is upgraded following the elections.
Since that report, however, a number of DPP officials, unconnected with the nomination process, have come out in support of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), saying that she represents the party’s best chances of victory against the KMT’s candidate, former vice premier Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is riding high in opinion polls.
Julian Kuo (郭正亮), a former DPP legislator, was quoted as saying on Sunday that he believed “the candidate for Sinbei City should be Tsai.”
Sinbei City, rather than Greater Taichung, was probably the main reason behind the list not being released, he said.
Also speaking on Sunday, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) asked Tsai, who has never run for public office, to come to a decision on Sinbei City, a move she said would benefit the DPP.
A poll conducted earlier by the DPP’s Taipei County office found support for Tsai to run as Sinbei City mayor at 35.9 percent, leading Yu who was second with 13.5 percent.
“Clearly these calls have increased the pressure on the party chairperson,” a source close to the party, who did not wish to be named, said.
Tsai has so far resisted calls to stand, saying that running the DPP is her No. 1 priority.
The source added that members of the nomination team are expected to step up their efforts to persuade Tsai to run after the conclusion of the DPP chairperson elections on Sunday, where she faces off against former Taipei County commissioner You Ching (尤清).
Speaking after a joint televised debate with You on Saturday, where both candidates outlined their policies, Tsai revealed for the first time that she had been included as part of the nomination team’s assessment for Sinbei City.
Meanwhile, last minute calls for Su Jia-chyuan to run in Greater Taichung, a merger between Taichung City and Taichung County, have also increased over the past few days.
Former Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), who had expressed an interest in running in the city, announced last week that he was backing out of the race and pledged to support Su if he were nominated.
Su also acknowledged last Thursday that he was under consideration as a potential candidate, despite earlier comments that it would be “awkward” for him to join the race as he was head of the nomination team.
The DPP’s candidates in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, cities the party currently governs, were decided last week through party primaries conducted by telephone polls.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) are set to represent the party in the those two municipalities.
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