Former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday said he will not run for Taipei mayor this year, as he failed to get more than 1 million followers on Facebook.
Lo on Dec. 24, 2016, expressed interest in running in this year’s mayoral election and set three thresholds to achieve.
The first goal was to get more than 1 million followers on Facebook by the end of last year, before officially entering the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) primary election.
However, as he had only received about 910,000 likes by yesterday, he posted that he would not be running for mayor this year.
“I am certainly going to run for Taipei mayor, but success does not lie in this election,” Lo wrote. “A promise is a promise and I want to be a political figure who is true to his word, so I will fulfill my promise not to run for Taipei mayor this year, because I did not get 1 million followers.”
“I will play the role of mediator and hope that the KMT can benefit from my online popularity and discourse, and become a competent canvass,” Lo added.
So far, former KMT legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and former Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) of the KMT have announced their intention to run for Taipei mayor.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) also plans to run, and whether the party will support Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for re-election remains unknown.
“Actually, I am on good terms with both higher-ranking and lower-ranking members of the DPP,” Ko said yesterday.
An opinion poll released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation on Sunday showed that Ko has a higher popularity rating than President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier William Lai (賴清德).
However, opinion polls should only be used as a reference and not taken too seriously, Ko said, adding that he still needs to improve.
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