Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
While attending a press conference yesterday morning, Lee said that it is not fair to compare him with Ma at this moment since the campaign has not officially started.
"We will use the results of the poll for reference but we will not take it too seriously," Lee said. "It's not fair to compare us at this moment since I haven't started [campaigning]. However, once I do [begin], I'm quite confident that the difference of the percentage of supporters for Ma and for me will be limited and in the end, less than 10 percent."
Regarding perceptions that he lacks administrative experience, Lee said that the criticism is unfounded.
"I've been a lawmaker, a deputy representative to the US, the secretary-general of the Cabinet and I've had a lot of related administrative duties for decades," he said. "If you check out my resume, you'll know what I'm talking about."
Lee also said that he hasn't organized his campaign team yet but he believes that many outstanding DPP party members will help him when the time comes.
"No matter who joins my campaign team, I will work closely with them and make the campaign a happy one because we want to make Taipei a happy city, too," he added.
According to a survey conducted by the Chinese Culture Association (中華文化協會) from May 15 to May 31 of 1,472 students from 20 local colleges, 53 percent of respondents said that they will vote for Ma and 16.1 percent said that they will vote for Lee. Another 30.9 percent did not comment.
Other results showed that 19.6 percent of the interviewees were satisfied with work done by the Cabinet, 43.9 percent of them said the Cabinet's performance was OK and 35.7 percent said that they were upset with the group's performance. Just under 1 percent didn't comment. Of the interviewees, 67.8 percent chose Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
In the meantime, the Executive Yuan said that Vice Presidential Secretary-General Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) and Council of Labor Affairs (勞委會) Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) are potential candidates to fill Lee's position when he leaves his post to begin the campaign at end of this month.
A Cabinet official said that Chen Che-nan is a former lawmaker who has worked with Premier Yu Shyi-kun for a long time. He meets the requirements of the Cabinet's secretary-general position.
As for Chen Chu, the official said that she comes from the same home town as Yu. In addition, Yu is happy with her work as council chairwoman.
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