The chairwoman of the recently founded Nonpartisan Solidarity Union (無黨團結聯盟, NSU) yesterday said that her party had no interest in joining the opposition alliance promoted by the pan-blue camp.
NSU Chairman Chang Po-ya (
The NSU, a new political party formed by independent legislators, registered with the Ministry of the Interior earlier this month and yesterday received its registration certificate from the ministry, officially becoming the nation's 106th political party.
In view of the approaching year-end legislative elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party recently publicized their interest in forming an alliance encompassing all opposition forces to ensure that the opposition retains its legislative majority.
Chang said that her party is planning on nominating at least one candidate in each constituency for the year-end elections.
Chang, a former interior minister, said that she hopes her party will win 15 seats in the December elections and be "a representative of the society's silent majority."
To highlight the NSU's independent stance, Chang said her party would not consider merging with the KMT or the PFP.
"The PFP was split from the KMT. That's why the PFP is talking about coming back to the KMT," said Chang, adding that her party will have nothing to do with the blue camp. Neither will the NSU seek to cooperate with the Democratic Progressive Party or the Taiwan Solidarity Union, she said.
Chang stressed that her party will nominate its own candidates for the upcoming election, and will not negotiate with other parties about its nomination process or campaign resources.
"After our party completes the nomination procedure for legislative candidates, I will be traveling across the country to stump for our candidates," Chang said.
The NSU cares less about party politics than about the people's interest, said Chang. She called education, economy and defense as the NSU's chief concerns.
The NSU suggests that Taiwan and China set aside sovereignty disputes, Chang said. Both sides should leave the sovereignty problem to the future generations and seek opportunities to reopen talks in the meantime, she said.
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