The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) announced its 10-member legislators-at-large list yesterday and said it hoped to surpass the 5 percent threshold for a legislator-at-large seat and win at least two seats in the January legislative elections.
Hsu Chun-hsin (許忠信), an economics professor, and Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲), a lawyer, were the top two candidates on the list that includes five male and five female candidates, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference.
“We are very confident that we can win more than 5 percent of the party votes and win at least two legislative seats,” said Huang Kun-huei, who was placed third on the list.
A more ambitious goal would be winning three seats, a minimum requirement for a party to establish a caucus in the legislature, Huang said.
Based on turnout rates in the last legislative elections, the TSU will need between 500,000 and 600,000 party votes, he said, adding that it would take another 160,000 votes to win an extra seat.
The TSU would implement an innovative way to maximize its influence in the legislature if it won a pair of seats by splitting the four-year term so the party would have four members serving two years each as legislators, Huang Kun-huei said.
The TSU chairman reiterated that the party is urging its supporters to vote for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in the presidential election and DPP legislative candidates in local districts.
The TSU is focusing on garnering party votes and so it did not nominate candidates to run for the nation’s 73 direct legislative seats.
The TSU is the second party to unveil its legislators-at-large list after the DPP. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party are expected to announce their lists later.
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