Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), the only contender to have successfully registered in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary, said she expects at least nine or 10 policy presentations to be arranged for her by the party before undergoing a poll to determine her candidacy.
Hung yesterday said that the party center has not contacted her about when and how the poll would be conducted.
The primary schedule marks June 13 as the last day of the poll, she said, adding that she hopes it would be conducted from June 10 to June 13, the latest dates possible.
KMT primary rules require a sole contender who is not nominated by the party review committee to garner at least 30 percent support in a poll to gain the nomination.
Regarding the policy presentations promised by the primary system, Hung said 11 policy presentations had taken place for the party chairperson election in December last year in which there was only one contender.
“I would expect at least nine or 10 this time,” she said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said he would give his support to Hung, “if she obtains the party’s nomination.”
When asked about the so-called “blue melancholy” — the perceived predicament that the pan-blue camp, or the KMT, is experiencing — allegedly evident in the local tiers of the party because no “A-list” party heavyweight intends to run for president, Wang rejected the classification.
“It is [the media] who have identified [us as such], but who are the A-listers and who the B-listers?” he said.
He refrained from responding to rumors that many party members expect KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) to talk Hung out of the primary, telling reporters to ask Chu.
Former minister of health Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), who failed to pass the primary signature threshold, said yesterday on a radio show that he would root for Hung.
He also chided KMT legislators who he said were urging a so-called “draft.”
Calling them “stupid,” Yaung said a party with a set of established rules should follow those rules.
“I doubt that championing rule-breaking before even going through the schedule would be acceptable to the voters,” Yaung said.
Describing the party as one known for its behind-closed-doors arrangements, Yaung asked those legislators “to shut their mouths,” but refrained from naming them when urged by the radio host.
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