President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she trusts the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential primary mechanism and is confident of her ability to win next year’s election, while party chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that further mediation between the party’s two presidential hopefuls is necessary.
During a visit to Taichung Harbor to assess the development of an offshore wind power plant, Tsai responded to questions regarding Wednesday’s DPP Central Executive Committee meeting, which ended without resolving disagreements between supporters of Tsai and former premier William Lai (賴清德).
“My stance has been consistent,” Tsai said. “I have confidence in my government and its administration of policies, and of my ability to win next year’s presidential election.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“We trust the democratic mechanism for the DPP’s primary process, through which we can unite to win the election,” she added.
Tsai also responded to Lai’s suggestion that whichever candidate performs worst in public surveys compared with the leading candidate from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should step aside and give their “unconditional support” to the DPP’s nominee.
“At the Central Executive Committee meeting, various proposals and conditions were discussed. It went on for a long time and some agreements were almost reached,” Tsai said. “As long as it is fair and reasonable, I will abide by the decision reached at the meeting. We hope to have no more delays.”
Regarding the use of public surveys, Tsai said that if she receives the higher number, then it is a win for her, if not, then it is a defeat.
“It is not a question of who should quit to support the other candidate,” she said.
Cho said that he had to exhibit caution when overseeing Wednesday’s discussion between the two candidates’ camps.
Cho has come under some criticism for ending the meeting without reaching a consensus and prolonging the process by adjourning the discussions until Wednesday next week.
New proposals were raised and there were changes in conditions on which both sides refused to compromise, he said.
“I believed both sides would need more time to consider, and I will also need more time to mediate to reach a consensus. Therefore, I suggested deferring the meeting to next week,” Cho said.
Meanwhile, Tainan Mayor Huang We-che (黃偉哲) and other prominent DPP members urged representatives of Tsai and Lai to negotiate in good faith and resolve their differences, instead of leveling unbecoming accusations against each other.
“We hope to convene a meeting between Tsai and Lai to create the best combination for a Tsai-Lai presidential ticket,” Huang said. “It would be best if both camps would take this week to negotiate and use their political acumen to consolidate all ideas and options.”
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