The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has recruited Legislator-at-large Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) to run in a legislative by-election in Miaoli County on Feb. 7, after a student activist withdrew from the race last week.
Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), convener of the DPP’s election strategy commission, confirmed the decision on Monday, saying the party has talked to civic organizations, which wanted one of their representatives to run in the by-election.
The party’s chapter and executive members in the northern county have also said they unanimously support Wu for the candidacy, Su added.
The DPP had planned to endorse Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷), one of the student leaders of the Sunflower movement that occupied the legislative chamber early this year to protest the government’s handling of a proposed service trade agreement with China, and not field a candidate of its own in the upcoming Miaoli poll.
However, the 24-year-old graduate student withdrew from the race on Thursday last week, after it was reported that he had sexually harassed at least three women since his senior-high school days.
If Wu wins the by-election, her legislator-at-large seat would be filled by the first person on the DPP’s list of candidates for such positions, Su said.
Wu said on Facebook that she was willing to step aside and give the opportunity to a more suitable person.
However, “a soldier has no right to pick battlefields,” she said.
“I will cooperate with the party headquarters’ operations if it recruits me,” she said, suggesting that she would agree to run in the by-election.
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