Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators are divided in their support for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) running for re-election next year, with some backing Premier William Lai (賴清德) as the party’s nominee instead.
Tsai’s supporters are promoting Lai as her running mate, but Lai should run for president with former DPP legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) as his running mate, DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said on Monday.
Two new candidates are needed to “breathe fresh air into the party,” which suffered defeats in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, Huang said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
However, DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that Tsai Ing-wen and Lai would be a “golden combination.”
The president has come under fire from pro-independence advocates, but if independence-leaning Lai were to run with her, she could overcome this, Tsai Yi-yu said, adding that without such a collaboration Tsai Ing-wen would fair poorly in opinion polls.
However, for Lai to run with Tsai Ing-wen, the DPP would first need to consolidate its cliques, which remains a challenge for the party, Tsai Yi-yu said, adding that he has not heard of any plans for Lai to run for president.
The DPP’s best chance for victory would be with Lai and Chen as nominees, as Lai has a good public reputation and Chen no longer has the Kaohsiung mayorship to worry about, Huang said.
However, the chance of the two teaming up as nominees is unlikely, unless the president were to stay out of the race, Huang said.
Once the party is finished with a Cabinet reshuffle, it would need to start preparing for the presidential election and will probably start soliciting opinions on candidates by March or April, he said.
The presidential race would likely be between Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Tsai Ing-wen, he added.
The DPP would need to consolidate its cliques to have a chance in the elections, Huang said.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said that it is too early to make predictions about who will run in the elections.
The party would wait for a new premier to take office and then see if any personnel adjustments are needed in the Presidential Office, he said, adding that nominees would not be announced before April or May.
Tsai Ing-wen has rejected rumors that former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) would take over as premier and has said that everyone hopes Lai will remain in office, Lee said.
The government must accept Lai’s resignation if the premiership is not the “right path” for him, Tsai Yi-yu said, encouraging senior party members to be more open about nominees.
The DPP must communicate better internally, he added.
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