Despite a previous denial, Academia Sinica researcher Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) is today expected to officially announce his candidacy for the legislative seat representing New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止).
“The New Power Party’s (NPP) party-building task force acting captain Huang Kuo-chang has decided to join the legislative race in New Taipei City’s 12th constituency, which is his hometown,” a media release by the NPP said yesterday. “His objective is to win another seat in the legislature for the progressive force.”
Huang is set to officially announce his candidacy in Sijhih this morning, with attendance of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chen Chao-lung (陳朝龍), Sijhih Farmers’ Association director Liu Wen-yen (劉文烟) and other NPP legislative candidates, the statement said.
The NPP’s announcement on Huang’s latest decision has triggered heated discussion among the public, as he has previously said he would not run in the constituency.
Last month, Huang said he would not run in Sijhih when DPP New Taipei City Councilor Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠), who has also expressed his interest in running for the legislative seat in the same constituency, said that Huang was about to announce his candidacy in a Facebook post.
Huang at the time said that it is unimportant whether he runs or not, as it is more important to have a progressive force to win more seats, adding that he would give a hand to Shen in his campaign.
As of press time last night, neither Huang nor Shen had returned requests for comment, with the NPP saying that Huang would explain his decision in detail in today’s news conference.
In other news, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who earlier this month declared his candidacy for a legislative seat in Keelung, won the party legislative primary yesterday with 45.53 percent support.
As the People First Party (PFP) has nominated former lawmaker Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) as its candidate to run for a legislative seat in Keelung, it remains to be seen whether the KMT and the PFP agree to coordinate by putting Hau and Liu to polls to decide on one candidate to represent the pan-blue camp in the Keelung constituency.
Additional reporting by Wang Yu-chung
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