The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday named Taipei City Councilor Liu Yao-jen (劉耀仁) as its candidate for Taipei City Council speaker, but delayed nominating a candidate for vice speaker to leave room for negotiation with possible coalition partners.
“We have nominated our convener, Liu, as candidate for council speaker,” DPP Taipei branch director Huang Cheng-kuo (黃乘國) said, adding that for the vice speaker, “nothing was off the table” in negotiations with other parties.
“We are prepared for all sorts of situations,” Liu said. “Now that the candidate for speaker has been determined we will work to communicate and coordinate with other parties in the hope of achieving the final victory.”
Liu is to run against incumbent speaker Wu Pi-chu (吳碧珠) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Wu has been speaker since 1998 and was renominated unanimously by KMT councilors last week.
The party also renominated Taipei City Councilor Chen Ching-hsiang (陳錦祥) for vice speaker, who has been the official KMT candidate for the position for the past three sessions.
The DPP is set to hold 27 seats in the newly elected council, compared with the KMT’s 28 seats.
With 32 votes needed for a majority, any candidate for speaker would need to win the support of small-party and independent representatives to be successful.
The pan-blue New Party and People First Party (PFP) are each set to hold two seats, while the pan-green Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) holds one seat. There are three independent councilors.
In response to questions on media reports quoting TSU Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) as saying he would support Wu, Liu said there was plenty of time before the election on Thursday next week and that no statements before the official vote should be viewed as a final decision.
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