Independent legislative candidate Richard Chang (張承中) on Thursday announced that he was willing to participate in “integration” polling, paving the way for a partial opposition primary in the race to unseat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) incumbent Alex Fai (費鴻泰) from Taipei’s seventh legislative district.
“There are many candidates in the [constituency comprised of the] Songshan (松山) and Xinyi (信義) districts, but there is only one who will be elected,” he said “As I am a political novice who has had only two months to sell myself … if I do not even rank second now, how can I expect to fight my way to victory in the next two months?”
He said that with the “major direction” of integration polling settled, he would not “sweat the details.”
Candidates participating in integration polling agree to endorse and support whoever has the highest level of support in an officially negotiated set of surveys, with less popular candidates withdrawing from the race.
Independent candidate Yang Shi-chiu (楊實秋), a former city councilor who was ejected from the KMT in July for criticizing the party, has for months been calling for integration polling, with the Democratic Progressive Party offering to conduct the polls and endorse the winner.
Social Democratic Party candidate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔), the district’s other main opposition candidate, has ruled out integration with the other challengers because of their “pan-blue backgrounds.”
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