Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday urged party members to give her four more years to reform the party as she officially announced her bid for re-election as party chairperson.
Addressing a news conference in Taipei’s Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Hung said the KMT was able to build the nation and lead it to overcome predicaments thanks to party members like former premier Sun Yun-shuan (孫運璿), who dedicated his life to the development of the nation until his death.
“If the KMT fails to walk on the right path, it would be dismissed by voters, feel the despair of youth and be abandoned by younger generations in the 2018 and 2020 elections,” Hung said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Hung said what really matters for the KMT’s next leader is their character, the level of trust the public bestows upon them and their willingness to lead the way for younger generations, rather than their personnel network and political experience.
Success is still a long way away and the road ahead is too tumultuous for any leader to clear all obstacles within a year, Hung said.
“The next four years will determine whether the KMT can get back on its feet again. Therefore, I hereby ask my fellow party members to give me four more years to carry out my reform projects for the party,” she said.
Hung was elected party chairwoman on March 26 last year to serve the remaining term of the sixth KMT chairman, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who was re-elected on July 20, 2013, before stepping down on Dec. 3, 2014, to take responsibility for the KMT’s defeat in the nine-in-one elections that year.
Former president Ma was succeeded by New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Jan. 19, 2015, who resigned on Jan. 16 last year after losing the presidential race to the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Hung also proposed several plans for the KMT, including democratizing the party, creating a mobile application for party members to voice their opinions and responding to public demands that the KMT remove its stigma as a “dinosaur party.”
Hung is one of six party members that have announced their intention to run for KMT leadership.
Nominees are required to collect signatures form at least 3 percent of all party members before Saturday to make their candidacy official. The election is scheduled for May 20.
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