A poll released yesterday by the Chinese-language Apple Daily about presidential election prospects prompted a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker to accuse the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of rigging the poll.
The survey showed that Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), the KMT’s presidential primary candidate, was supported by 54.91 percent of respondents, and would overwhelm DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) if the presidential election, scheduled for January, were held now.
According to the poll, Hung would beat Tsai by 50.05 percent to 28.47 percent.
KMT Legislator Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) said the results of the Apple Daily poll were “impossibly different” from previous polls, and that other KMT legislators were blaming the anomaly on the DPP.
However, DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) demanded that the KMT provide proof of its allegations, adding that the DPP had not mobilized its members to manipulate the survey.
The poll results reflect the public’s sympathy for Hung amid the KMT’s opaque and inconsistent nominating mechanism, which had turned her into “the victim of a ‘black box’ operation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hung said that such survey results are just for reference and that she put greater emphasis on grassroots voters’ responses.
While Hung was the only KMT member to secure the required 15,000 signatures to support her primary registration, she must also win the support of at least 30 percent of party members in a poll.
Hung and KMT headquarters have yet to agree on the poll’s format. KMT Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) has proposed the poll pit Hung against the DPP’s Tsai, but Hung said she does not accept that idea.
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