Greater Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) yesterday appealed to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, to not let the party abandon her with only one week left before the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election.
At a rally held at Huang’s campaign headquarters, Huang called on Ma to clearly state that the party will support her and renounce Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who is running as an independent after leaving the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in August.
Yang has been urging residents in Kaohsiung to support him and abandon Huang as he seeks support from pan-blue heavyweights.
PHOTO: CNA
Huang has been accusing Yang of resorting to dirty tricks in a bid to sabotage her campaign.
“Our first priority now is to think of ways to save the day,” Huang told about 1,000 supporters at the rally. “I feel heartache every time I think of the fact that the KMT has not held power in Kaohsiung City for 12 years or in Kaohsiung County for 25 years.”
“This election is the most important election because it will decide whether the KMT can once again gain momentum in southern Taiwan,” she added, to rounds of applause from her supporters, the majority of whom were middle-aged residents from different sectors in Kaohsiung City and County.
In response to Huang’s call, Ma joined hands with Huang, -Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) on stage at the rally, and chanted: “Let’s abandon Yang while saving Huang” and “Huang Chao-shun should be elected” in Mandarin, Hoklo, Hakka and Atayal.
Ma went on to accuse Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), of the DPP, of being incompetent.
“Kaohsiung has had the -highest number of criminal cases per 100,000 people,” Ma said.
“However, [a city’s] public order will improve as long as the mayor works hard,” Ma said.
Ma also accused Chen of failing to attract investors, saying that Kaohsiung’s economy has not fully recovered during Chen’s tenure and the city remained one of the municipalities in the nation with the highest unemployment rate.
“We do not deny the fact that Mayor Chen has made the city really beautiful, but there remains a wide gap between what we believe a successful city should be like and what the city is now,” Ma said.
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