People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) is looking to outperform his two presidential rivals in the second televised platform presentation today; persuade moderate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-leaning voters to turn to the PFP; and ultimately defeat President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a PFP official said yesterday.
The declining support for Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, was through no fault of Han, but rather the KMT, which has committed many blunders, and KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) slips of the tongue have not helped, PFP Organization Department director Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said.
Han as a candidate is bland and lacks an interesting platform, or a platform that the people can understand, which has contributed to his dwindling support, Chang added.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Conversely, support for the PFP is on the rise, which is partly due to the KMT’s lackluster performance and people’s disappointment over Han’s failure to defeat Tsai, causing them to transfer their expectations to Soong, Chang said.
Soong has called on all candidates to cease their useless war of words and instead focus on the presentation today, Chang said, adding that Soong’s performance would let the public see how he differs from Han.
The PFP’s goal is to overtake Han by Saturday, and catch up with Tsai and surpass her before Jan. 11, voting day, Chang said.
At a separate event, Soong said that if he is elected, he would only serve for one term to lay down a solid foundation that would enable any future president to help spread democracy.
In other news, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) said in a television interview on Monday that he regretted withdrawing from the presidential race and that he felt bad for Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Ko’s mother, as they had publicly supported his run.
Asked about Gou’s comment, Ko yesterday said he would have helped Gou if the latter decided to run for president next year, “but the key moment has already passed, so regrets are useless.”
Asked if he agreed with Gou’s remark that Ko, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, has a high chance of winning the 2024 presidential election, but that the TPP might become a burden for him by then, Ko said he would not think about the 2024 election until he completes his term as mayor in 2022.
Meanwhile, a source close to Ko has said that he plans to take leave from his mayoral duties from Monday next week until Jan. 11 to help canvass for votes for TPP legislative candidates.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun and CNA
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