People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was deepening the pan-blue split after KMT -Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) filed a lawsuit against him for accusing King of manipulating elections with fabricated polls.
King filed a lawsuit against Soong for damage of reputation on Nov. 15 over his claim in an interview with Era TV on Oct. 19 that King and the KMT used fraudulent polls to affect the result of presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 and asked for NT$2 million (US$68,576).
King’s lawyer, KMT Taipei City Councilor Lai Shu-ju (賴素如), yesterday confirmed the lawsuit, but said the legal action did not aim at “any specific figure,” as the party also filed a lawsuit against Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), host of a political talk show on Formosa TV, and the show’s guests for making the same accusation against King on Oct. 20.
“We did not file the lawsuit to target any specific figure, but to defend the party’s image and King’s personal reputation through legal procedures,” she said.
Lai said King would drop the lawsuit if Soong offered a public apology.
Soong yesterday lashed out at the KMT and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as the KMT chairman, saying they had initiated a vicious attack against him, and accused Ma and King of damaging pan-blue unity with the lawsuit.
“Chairman Ma Ying-jeou, I am too disappointed with you. [The legal action] is like stabbing me with a knife,” he said after attending a flag-raising ceremony in Hualien County.
Soong said he had discussed the results of the presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 and how King and the KMT used polls to manipulate the elections.
“Ma and King used such legal actions against me. I am willing to confront them in the legal battle,” he said.
Soong was ousted from the KMT for running as an independent in the 2000 presidential election against KMT nominee Lien Chan (連戰).
Both lost the election to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and afterward the KMT blamed Soong for causing a pan-blue split.
Soong founded the PFP later in 2000 after his failed presidential bid, and allied with the KMT in 2004 when running in the 2004 presidential election as Lien’s running mate.
KMT-PFP relations have gone downhill in recent years, and Soong publicly endorsed former Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) in the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election last month over the KMT nominee.
Former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday said he regretted the KMT’s lawsuit against Soong, and said the two sides should enhance communication in seeking pan-blue unity.
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