With the opposition camp having failed in its effort to field a single candidate for Kaohsiung mayor, PFP officials yesterday said the party will soon make an announcement on which candidate it will support in the mayoral race.
The KMT and PFP had pinned their hopes of defeating the DPP's Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) on having their supporters back a single candidate who stands the best chance of winning.
The PFP's announcement is expected to sway supporters of the opposition camp, who now face three choices.
The three candidates are the KMT's Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英) and independents Chang Po-ya (張博雅) and Shih Ming-teh (施明德).
During an interview on TV Thursday night, PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) said his party will make its stand clear on which candidate to support at an appropriate time in order to "respond to public anticipation."
Chang Chao-hsiung said that the KMT and PFP must cooperate in order to win the election, as Kaohsiung voters are eager to oust Frank Hsieh.
PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉) yesterday said electoral success will be the PFP's main consideration, meaning the party must not go against the majority of public opinion in deciding which candidate to support.
According to a poll conducted by the TVBS poll center on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, Huang, a former deputy mayor of Kaohsiung, has 27 percent support, while Chang Po-ya and Shih have only 9 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Frank Hsieh is still in the lead with 42 percent support, the poll showed.
After negotiations in the blue camp broke down in September, the PFP had expressed its support for Chang Po-ya, a former minister of the interior who for a time was the opposition candidate with the most support.
Over the past two months, however, Huang's support has grown, making Huang the leading candidate in the opposition camp.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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