Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday accused Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who is running in the Kaohsiung mayoral election as an independent candidate, of polarizing pan-blue supporters.
Calling for pan-blue camp unity ahead of the Nov. 27 election, King yesterday continued campaigning for the party’s candidate, Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), in Kaohsiung.
King accused Yang of siding with pan-blue officials to divide the pan-blue support, and warned party members that Yang’s actions were a manipulative election strategy.
Photo: Huang Chih-yuan, Taipei Times
“Yang would act differently if he had won the Democratic Progressive Party’s [DPP] primary,” King said.
Yang left the DPP in August to join the mayoral campaign as an independent candidate after losing the DPP’s primary to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊).
Seeking to attract pan-blue -supporters and swing voters, Yang has met with pan-blue politicians, including People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明).
Yang has also allegedly met with King on several occasions to discuss the possibility of cooperation in the election.
King yesterday denied having any plans to give up on Huang, who has been running third in all polls, and said the KMT will only support its own candidate.
“The KMT will stick to our own principles and give full support to Huang. The KMT will continue to be united and we will not be manipulated by other candidates’ attempts to divide us,” he said, adding that Yang may return to the DPP after the mayoral election.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as the KMT chairman, later attended an event at Huang’s headquarters and called on party members to remain unified.
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