The results of opinion polls on Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) are to be published today as part of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday.
Chu said everything would proceed according to the established system.
The results will be closely watched by not only the KMT’s supporters, but those of the Democratic Progressive Party, which is eager to regain the presidency it lost in 2008 by getting DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) elected in January next year’s presidential race.
Photo: CNA
Hung is the only candidate to have qualified for the KMT’s presidential primary. Whether she will be nominated is to be decided by her ability to secure at least 30 percent support in the series of opinion polls conducted by three different pollsters on Friday and yesterday.
However, there have been rumors that, even if Hung passes the opinion poll test, the KMT still might not nominate her.
Over the past few days, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has hinted he would be interested in running for election if he is drafted by the party.
In response to rumors that the KMT might not nominate Hung and draft someone else instead, Chu said that, because the KMT is in the process of transforming into a fully democratic party, there are all kinds of rumors. The party still hopes to set up a system and act accordingly, he said.
“We respect all kinds of voices, but sometimes you should not take rumors seriously,” he said.
Many of the rumors are related to claims that Hung cannot win the national election and Wang would have a better chance of beating Tsai to succeed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who won for the KMT in 2008.
According to the ruling party’s regulations, Hung’s nomination is to be decided by the collective outcomes of the polls before confirmation by a convention of party delegates next month.
Each of the three polls was to be comprised of an “approval” survey designed to gauge respondents’ support for Hung as a candidate and a “comparative” survey testing her rating against that of the DPP’s Tsai.
Each of the three polls are required to garner 1,200 valid results in order for the results to stand.
Results from the “approval” and “comparative” components are to be assigned a 50 percent weighting toward Hung’s overall support rating assessment, and the final outcome would be taken from the average of the three polls.
If Hung fails to win at least 30 percent support in the polls, the KMT can decide not to nominate her and draft another candidate, according to party bylaws.
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