Heavy metal band Chthonic lead vocalist and New Power Party founder Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday announced that he would join the legislative race for Taipei City’s Wanhua (萬華) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts, just a few days after bowing out of the competition for the Daan District (大安) seat.
“There is no need to be confused; we have to bravely defend our homeland — Taiwan — on the battlefield,” Lim told a news conference in front of Longshan Temple (龍山寺) in Wanhua. “My name is Freddy Lim; I have firmly decided that I will run for a legislative seat representing Wanhua and Zhongzheng districts.”
Lim announced last month that he would run for the Daan and Wenshan (文山) district seat, as he was born and raised in Daan.
Photo: Min Wei, Taipei Times
However, after Fan Yun (范雲) of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) also announced her candidacy in the same constituency on Monday, Lim decided to yield, saying he would continue his legislative campaign in another constituency.
Explaining his decision, Lim said that, rather than focusing on his own victory, he is more concerned with how the “progressive force” may be maximized.
“The place where my capacity to fight could be maximized, more energy could be gathered and the progressive force may win is my battlefield,” Lim said.
“I believe I am a candidate who has a bigger chance of winning in this particular constituency,” he said.
Asked to comment on rumors that the SPD might also nominate a candidate for the electoral district, Lim said that he has been in close touch with the SPD and the two parties are on good terms.
He said he does not believe the SPD would nominate a candidate wherever he decides to run, and the party had told him in private that it has no plan to do so.
“If another party were to follow wherever I go, I think everyone would feel weird about it,” Lim said. “I do not think this would happen, unless they are drunk.”
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