Thu, Oct 17, 2002 page3

• KMT-PFP plan to cooperate one step closer to nowhere

  • By Stephanie Low / STAFF REPORTER
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  The KMT yesterday announced that it will make an all-out effort to campaign for its Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英), but said it has not given up hope of fielding a joint candidate with the PFP.

  Short of a nomination, the KMT adopted a decision to "officially recommend" Huang to run for Kaohsiung mayor. The decision was made in a weekly meeting of its Central Standing Committee.

  "There is no difference between an `official recommendation' and `nomination,' as the KMT will throw its full support behind Huang," said KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正).

  Lin explained that the KMT has avoided the term "nomination" because there is a consensus between the KMT and the PFP to jointly field one candidate in Kaohsiung.

  Lin said his party will continue to negotiate with the PFP to seek to achieve this goal.

  According to Lin, over 60 percent of Kaohsiung residents expect to see incumbent Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) replaced by someone who is more capable of resolving problems such as water pollution, bad social conditions, chaotic traffic, high unemployment rates and epidemics of dengue fever in the port city.

  "The job demands someone who is as competent as Huang Jun-ying," Lin said.

  Huang said he will keep trying to unite the forces of the opposition camp until the last minute.

  "Cooperation between the KMT and the PFP -- and the unity of the opposition camp -- will increase our chances of winning the Kaohsiung race," Huang said.

  As the two parties have so far failed to come to a decision on a joint candidate -- with less than two months left before the mayoral poll -- the KMT's announcement came just before the opening of registration of candidates, which starts on Sunday.

  Negotiations between the two parties broke down last month after Chang Po-ya's (張博雅) decision to wage her own campaign. She said she did not have faith in the selection process chosen by the two parties.

  Chang, a former minister of the interior who is running as an independent, became the PFP's choice for candidacy after PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) dropped out of the contest.

  PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉) yesterday said there is still room for negotiation as the KMT has not nominated Huang yet.

  Though the two parties' efforts on the issue have come to a standstill, they will continue to work to integrate their resources, Hsieh said.

  Chang Po-ya, however, reaffirmed her wish to go her own way yesterday, announcing that her campaign headquarters will open on Nov. 3.

  Former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), another independent candidate, said it is obvious that the KMT-PFP cooperation plan has been a complete fiasco.

  The failure also signifies the impossibility of an alliance between KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in the 2004 presidential election, Shih said.
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