Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman and presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said he attaches great importance to grassroots workers, which was why he chose former Council of Labor Affairs minister Jennifer Wang (王如玄) to be his running mate for January’s election.
“I would like to express my apologies to many good friends who are not included [on the KMT’s list of legislator-at-large candidates]. We value grassroots workers highly and that is why we invited Wang to be the party’s vice presidential candidate,” Chu told a news conference in Penghu County to announce his marine policy.
Chu said remarks made in the past few days by several KMT members who did not make the list have deeply moved him.
“They told me they supported my decision to focus on the bigger picture and that now is the time for party members to sacrifice themselves for the greater good,” Chu said.
Chu’s comment came one day after Taiwan Petroleum Workers’ Union chairman Chuang Chueh-an (莊爵安) announced his decision to give up his nomination as a KMT legislator-at-large candidate and to withdraw from the party late on Sunday evening.
As the sole representative of workers on the KMT’s list of 34 legislator-at-large candidates, Chuang is reportedly fuming over the party leadership’s decision to put him in 19th spot on the list, which is outside the “safe” zone of the top 12 candidates.
“Following the recent release of the KMT’s legislator-at-large list, the absence of a representative of the nation’s 9 million grassroots workers on the ‘safe’ list has enraged many labor groups that support the party,” Chuang said in a statement issued on Sunday in his capacity as a member of the KMT’s Central Committee.
Chuang said that although he had tendered his resignation to KMT Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) prior to the list’s publication upon learning of his ranking, his name was still put on the list.
“I was forced to make this decision after spending the past few days assuaging the disappointment of more than 160 labor groups and waiting in vain for a concrete response from the KMT headquarters,” Chuang said.
“I am laden with guilt for not being able to give a rational explanation to the leaders of various labor unions who question the KMT’s disregard of grassroots workers. At the same time, I also deeply regret the lack of someone in the legislature to speak for the workers,” Chuang said.
“I hereby announce my decision to forfeit my legislator-at-large nomination, resign from my post as Central Committee member and quit the KMT,” Chuang said. “Hopefully the party will be able to implement policies that take care of underprivileged workers and regain public trust.”
Separately, Wang yesterday said that the KMT is trying to persuade Chuang to reconsider his decision.
“Based on Chairman Chu’s ‘two plus two’ proposal, Chuang still has a chance of becoming a legislator-at-large, but maybe he feels aggrieved over the party’s arrangement,” Wang said, adding that the KMT would do its utmost to keep Chuang.
The “two plus two” proposal refers to Chu’s plan to recruit some of the KMT’s legislators-at-large to join the 2018 mayoral and county commissioner elections after they serve two years of their four-year term.
Their remaining two-year tenure would subsequently be served by other legislator-at-large candidates on the list.
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