With jockeying for the next legislative speakership and vice speakership already underway, the feasibility of KMT-PFP cooperation on the bids is expected to take center stage in an upcoming meeting between leaders of the two parties.
PFP Chairman James Soong (
Soong said the PFP will not take the initiative to vie for the two positions, in light of the limited number of seats controlled by the party.
Soong, however, would not disclose the party's plans for filling the positions yet, saying the PFP needs to reach a consensus first.
The current legislature is set to terminate by week's end as soon the fiscal 2002 budget is passed. The elections for speakership and vice speakership will be held on Feb. 1, the day the next legislature begins.
The KMT has expressed its firm support for the re-election bid of sitting speaker and KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), but has remained silent on whom it will support for the vice speakership.
A high-ranking KMT official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that the KMT's main consideration is to ensure Wang's victory in the bid.
Judging from the representation of each party in the next legislature, the official predicted that it is easier for Wang to win in the case of KMT-DPP cooperation -- in which case the KMT would have to support a DPP candidate for vice speaker in exchange for the DPP's support for Wang.
However, the KMT will need to get an idea of the PFP's inclination before making a decision, given the cooperative relationship between the two parties.
Re-elected PFP lawmaker Shen Chih-hwei (
PFP legislators Chiu Chuang-liang (
The three politicians criticized the KMT for behaving in an equivocal manner and lacking a specific objective when the public anticipates KMT-PFP cooperation in the legislature.
Unless a consensus for cooperation is reached between the two parties in the upcoming Lien-Soong meeting, they said, PFP lawmakers may select from among themselves candidates for the speakership and vice speakership to highlight the PFP's individuality.
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