Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced that he would give up a legislative bid after veteran political campaigner Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) accused Liang of breaking a promise to voters by campaigning just months after being re-elected.
“After Lin repeatedly condemned me for running for legislator as a city councilor, I have decided to withdraw from the upcoming legislative election,” Liang told an afternoon news conference at the Taipei City Council building. “I made the decision not because I agree with Lin, but because his moves have caused friction among my supporters and I no longer know what I am fighting for.”
Liang said his decision to run had been justified, adding that winning a majority of legislative seats should be the party’s ultimate objective, and there is nothing wrong with nominating someone who has performed well and is experienced.
Photo: CNA
“It has been natural in the past for councilors who perform well to run for the legislature and for lawmakers who perform well to run for local government leadership roles,” Liang said. “It was this way even when Lin served as DPP chairperson. If what he says now holds true, would it have been mistakes for [former legislators] Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) and Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) to be elected as local government heads [in Taichung, Pingtung County and Changhua County respectively]?”
Although Liang is the official DPP candidate, he said that he would immediately stop all campaign activities and apologized to his supporters.
Liang announced his withdrawal after Lin earlier yesterday morning renewed his call to DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to refrain from nominating newly elected city councilors for next year’s legislative elections, saying it would break promises to voters.
“Is it right or wrong to nominate a city councilor who was sworn in within less than five months to run for legislator? If it is wrong, why do you [Tsai] not correct it now?” Lin said during a brief news conference outside his residence. “If you would nominate a newly sworn-in city councilor to run for legislator, you certainly do not care about political promises. Then, if you are elected president, would you easily give up the post to serve another higher post — say, vice president of another bigger nation?”
Following Liang’s news conference, three of his rivals in the district, including Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and independent hopefuls Billy Pan (潘建志) and Hsiao Ya-tan (蕭亞譚) welcomed his decision, while praising him as a “great politician.”
Pan said that the dilemma that Lin described happens in many districts around the nation.
Problems in collaboration among pan-green candidates would eventually hurt Tsai’s presidential bid, but Liang’s move “in the long run would help Tsai’s presidential bid,” Billy Pan said.
Hsiao said that he and Liang have the “bigger picture” in mind, and thus he is grateful about Liang’s decision, vowing to work with him in the future.
Chiang also called Liang a great politician, adding that he admires Liang’s decision to fulfill his promise to his supporters.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) said that the party would respect Liang’s decision, but must discuss whether to consent to his withdrawal at its next Central Executive Committee meeting.
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