The daughter of former Examination Yuan president and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) veteran Chiu Chuang-huan (邱創煥) yesterday announced that she would contest the legislative elections as an independent candidate.
Describing herself as a descendant of a deep-blue member at a press conference to announce her bid, Chiu Pei-lin (邱珮琳) dismissed concerns of a pan-blue split and said she had entered the election to serve the public and promote Taiwan’s international reputation.
“My father supports my decision and he encouraged me to defend the rights of the public as a legislator ... I am joining the election because I want to make the pan-blue camp better, not because I want to cause a split,” she said.
Chiu Pei-lin, 54, will run for New Taipei City’s (新北市) Zhonghe (中和) legislative seat, which is a traditional pan-blue stronghold. Former Taipei deputy mayor Bai Hsiu-hsiung (白秀雄), who worked for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration when he was Taipei mayor, will serve as Chiu Pei-lin’s campaign director.
“People should elect the best candidate in a legislative election, rather than just choose between different political parties,” she said.
Also speaking at the press conference was Joanna Lei (雷倩), a former KMT legislator and a member of the KMT’s ally the New Party, who will contest the legislative election as an independent candidate in New Taipei City.
Lei said she and Chiu Pei-lin would seek to form a legislative caucus with another second-generation pan-blue political figure who would run as an independent.
“I urge pan-blue supporters to vote for President Ma in the presidential election, but support us in the legislative election … We will make people’s needs a top priority and seek to become a decisive force in politics,” Lei said.
Lei, daughter of former Vice Admiral Lei Hsueh-ming (雷學明), left the KMT in 2007 and joined the New Party.
Both Lei and Chiu Pei-lin insisted that their election bids would have a positive impact on the pan-blue camp.
However, their decision to contest the election as independents comes on the heels of a pan-blue split between the KMT and the People First Party (PFP), which has said it would soon name a roster of at-large legislators.
KMT spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) yesterday called for pan-blue unity following the announcements, and urged Lei and Chiu Pei-lin to work with the KMT in the legislative election.
“We urged them to keep pan-blue unity a priority so that the Democratic Progressive Party doesn’t profit from a split in the pan-blue camp,” he said.
Chen also repeated the KMT’s call for collaboration with the PFP in legislative nominations.
PFP spokesperson Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) yesterday ignored the KMT’s calls for collaboration, and said the party would soon present its legislative nomination list.
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