Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) would decide by Sept. 17 whether he would run for president, his office said yesterday.
“Mr Gou is carefully considering the matter,” Yonglin Foundation deputy chief executive Evelyn Tsai (蔡沁瑜) told reporters in Taipei.
“The decision will be based on the state of affairs in Taiwan and internationally, as well as the extent to which Gou would be able to help the nation and its people if elected,” she said.
Asked about a rumor that Gou had given up waiting for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to replace Kaoshiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) as its presidential candidate, Tsai said the tycoon never counted on replacing Han or waited for it to happen.
Asked if that means Gou could run for president as an independent, Tsai said whether he stays or leaves the KMT is a “non-issue.”
His main concern is to find a middle-of-the-road approach to help the nation and improve the life of its people, and perhaps “even to revitalize the KMT,” she said.
Asked if Gou, KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are close to reaching an agreement to collaborate in the presidential and legislative elections, Tsai said their aides have been in touch, but denied that the three had any discussion about a division of labor for the polls.
As for a rumor that Gou had asked tech guru John Hsuan (宣明智), United Microelectronics Corp’s honorary deputy chairman, to develop an app which Gou could use to collect signatures for his presidential bid, Tsai said the office has never commissioned anyone to design such an app, although it has been evaluating different ways to collect signatures.
By law, to qualify as an independent presidential candidate, a person must collect signatures from 1.5 percent of the electorate in the previous legislative election, which for next year’s poll would be 280,384.
Candidates must register with the Central Election Commission by Sept. 17 and submit their petition papers by Nov. 2.
In other developments, Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), deputy chief executive officer of Han’s Taipei campaign office, said he does not believe Gou and Wang would leave the KMT.
While Wang has repeatedly pledged his loyalty to the KMT, Gou is one of the few members to be given the unique status of an “honorary member,” Sun said in an interview with Pop Radio.
“The best thing the KMT can do is to get all members to rally behind Han and never give up that goal until the last minute,” he said.
However, if Gou does decide to run for president, Han’s campaign team would be prepared, he said.
The team has assessed several possible scenarios, he said.
While Han is expected to have the support of at least 30 percent of the electorate, his campaign team is aiming to increase his support rate to 50 percent in a two-way election against President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and to 40 percent if it is a three-way election with either Gou or Ko running, he said.
“Han’s support rate has recently declined slightly, but it is within the acceptable range,” Sun said, adding that the drop was largely due to the protests in Hong Kong and internal divisions in the KMT.
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