Hung Heng-chu (洪恒珠), the wife of Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), yesterday announced that she was withdrawing her DPP membership to run as an independent for southern Pingtung County in next year’s legislative election.
Hung, a former police officer who has worked in various public offices, said that she wanted to contribute more to the development of Pingtung, despite pressure from some in the DPP for her to drop the bid.
However, Hung said that she would consider withdrawing her candidacy if Su’s nephew, DPP Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清), decided to run for re-election in the county.
Photo: CNA
In a separate press release, Su Jia-chyuan said that he has always opposed his wife’s decision to run in the election.
He added that he regretted her decision to drop her DPP membership.
He would do his best to persuade his wife to reconsider her decision before the election’s Nov. 22 registration deadline, Su Jia-chyuan said.
If Hung does run, she would be competing against the DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱), who is fighting for a second term in Pingtung, as well as four other candidates.
Hung’s candidacy is expected to have a large effect on Chung’s chances of being re-elected next year, political analysts have said.
The number of candidates for the first electoral district in Pingtung is high because the legislative seats in the county have been cut from three to two, starting next year.
All three legislative seats in Pingtung are currently occupied by DPP members.
Meanwhile, only two candidates are competing for Pingtung’s second district — incumbent DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Chou Chia-chi (周佳琪) from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
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