President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday led Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials to campaign for KMT Sinbei mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) in Sanchong (三重), launching a series of large-scale campaign activities ahead of the special municipality elections on Nov. 27.
Leading party members to chant “Victory for Eric Chu,” Ma, in his capacity as the KMT chairman, touted Chu’s major campaign promise of completing the construction of more MRT lines, and questioned the ability of Chu’s opponent, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), to carry out her campaign promises.
“Taipei City and Sinbei City should be one big community, and connecting the two cities using MRT lines is very important … The DPP’s candidate criticized the proposal, and she didn’t realize that Chu is capable of carrying out the plan. The government will help the city to reach that goal,” Ma said during the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee (CSC) meeting at Sanchong Stadium.
Ma also defended the government’s efforts at upgrading the status of Taipei County to a special municipality and criticized the DPP and former Taipei County commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who is now running for Taipei mayor, for failing to do so in the past eight years.
As part of the Ma administration’s rezoning initiative, Taipei County will be upgraded to a special municipality in December and renamed Sinbei City.
Taichung, Kaohsiung and Tainan cities and counties will also be merged and upgraded to special municipalities as well.
Presenting his campaign platform, Chu promised that if elected, he would address major issues local residents cared about, including traffic, medical care and education, while saying Tsai lacked experience in governing a city.
Continuing the electoral campaigning, the KMT will hold its CSC meeting in Taichung and Taipei in the following weeks.
The KMT will also use the party’s anniversary on Nov. 20 to campaign for its candidates.
In other news, KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), in response to People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong’s (宋楚榆) recent attacks against the KMT while campaigning for Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsin (楊秋興) and PFP city councilor candidates, said that the KMT respected Soong’s remarks, and the party remained united in seeking election victories.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who doubles as chief supervisor for KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun’s (黃昭順) campaign, meanwhile, said the KMT would never abandon its own candidate to support Yang.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
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