The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed allegations of difficulties in its election campaign in southern cities and counties, but said the party would continue to focus on its campaign efforts in central and southern Taiwan.
The south, including Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, have traditionally been strongholds for the pan-green camp. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election, is setting up his first southern campaign office in Greater Tainan to expand his support base in the south.
Leading the election campaign in Greater Tainan, local KMT heavyweight Huang Cheng-hsiung (黃正雄) said yesterday that grassroots supporters in the city were joining efforts to campaign for Ma and that the party would arrange for Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), to make frequent visits to Greater Tainan and other parts of southern Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Huang dismissed a report that quoted him as saying that the KMT was facing difficulties in the south and that local factions were reluctant to offer assistance in the presidential election campaign. He said party members in the south would work hard to attract more support for the KMT in the presidential and legislative elections.
“President Ma is putting a great deal of effort into southern Taiwan. Campaigning in Greater Tainan is not easy because of the merger of Tainan County and Tainan City, but we are still hoping that we can have a small lead over the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] in the city,” he said yesterday at the KMT headquarters.
In an interview with the Chinese-language China Times published yesterday, Huang was quoted as saying that local factions in Greater Tainan were reluctant to join the election campaign and that it would be difficult for Ma to repeat his victory in the city in the 2008 presidential election, in which he received 6,000 more votes in the former Tainan City than then-DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
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