The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday sought to limit the damage caused by one of its spokeswomen who said that Chairman Lien Chan (
"Chairman Lien harbors only a thankful heart and he wants to express gratitude to the grassroots supporters and those who had helped out during the recount," KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (
Party spokeswoman Kuo Su-chun (
Tsai also said that Kuo was incorrect in saying that Lien had instructed party officials to prepare for a presidential election next year.
"Whether there will be another election or not will depend on the court's ruling," Tsai quoted Lien as saying during a phone conversation on Saturday night. "Lien did not instruct party officials to prepare for another election."
"The KMT ought to take a pragmatic and cautious approach to the challenges and not act in any way that is excessive or boastfully exaggerated or that could stir controversy," Tsai said.
"Until the court makes its ruling, the party will tackle issues with a careful, thankful and reserved frame of mind," he said.
In response to former president Lee Teng-hui's (
After coming third in the 2000 presidential election, Lien lost this year's presidential election by less than 30,000 votes, or 0.2 percent. He refused to concede defeat and filed lawsuits to overturn and nullify the election result.
"It is not a matter of who is predestined to be a president but whether Taiwanese people are predestined to have a good president," Tsai said.
"If Taiwanese people are predestined to have a good president, then another election would result in a good president; if Taiwanese people are not predestined to have a good president, then another election is unlikely," Tsai said.
Meanwhile, a group of young KMT members yesterday proposed a three-phase timetable for the proposed merger of their party and its smaller ally, the People First Party (PFP).
The group, the "567 Alliance," suggested that the KMT and the PFP meet next month to discuss the views of their parties' members. In July, they should convene a party congress to finalize the details of the merger, the group suggested. The merger could be completed in August "ready to fight a good fight in the year-end legislative elections."
Alliance member Chang Zu-kang (
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