Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) yesterday said that he would resign to prepare for next year’s Tainan mayoral election, calling on DPP lawmakers intending to contest the post to resign their seats to avoid abusing government resources for their personal campaigns.
Lee said his resignation was to ease concerns that his position might gain him an advantage in the DPP’s nomination race.
“Some rivals have expressed displeasure over my involvement as deputy secretary-general in the mayoral campaign and they have pressured President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) [who also serves as DPP chair],” Lee said.
“To protect the party and keep Tsai from being involved in things that are insignificant to the president, I have decided to resign, which shows my determination to win the party’s nomination,” Lee said.
The DPP is expected to hold a primary election in March next year to nominate candidates for next year’s mayoral and county councilor elections.
DPP legislators Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) and Wang Ding-yu (王定宇), as well as former Tainan deputy mayor Yen Chun-tso (顏純左), have declared their intentions to join the party’s primary for Tainan, with DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) also expected to enter the race.
An opinion poll released on Tuesday by Chinese-language online news outlet My-Formosa.com ranked Huang as the most popular candidate with an approval rating of 44.5 percent, followed by Chen at 29 percent, Wang at 28.9 percent, Yen at 25.7 percent, Yeh at 23.6 percent and Lee at 14.7 percent.
As Tainan is a DPP stronghold, the candidate who secures the party’s nomination is expected to win the mayorship, as the poll showed that New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) received an approval rating of only 18.7 percent.
“The accuracy of the poll can be debated, and whether there is any political motivation behind the poll is also open for discussion,” Lee said.
Lee, who was born in then-Tainan County and served as a legislator representing the region from 1996 to 2012, won the DPP nomination to run for county commissioner in 2009.
However, the county commissioner election was canceled after the central government merged the county with then-Tainan City to create a special municipality.
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