Former Taipei deputy mayor Ou Chin-der (
"After I announced that I would not take part in the election, grass-roots supporters kept encouraging me to reconsider the possibility. Their encouragement and pressure have persuaded me to think about this again," he said yesterday afternoon before attending the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei.
Surprise
Ou's remarks came as a surprise to many, especially the KMT's mayoral hopefuls, who are already campaigning fiercely for the party primary in May.
Ou, who is a close aide of KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), was reportedly Ma's preferred successor. After Ou announced last December that he would not be a candidate in the Taipei mayoral race, another Ma aide, Taipei Deputy Mayor Yeh Chin-chuan (
Asked to comment further on his remarks, Ou later declined to say if would definitely join the mayoral race.
"When I said that I need to think about it, what I meant was that I need to think about ways to answer grass-roots supporters' expectations by figuring out what I can do for the city," he said, adding that the media should not read anything into his remarks.
Competing candidates
Five KMT members are currently competing for the party's nomination, including Yeh, former head of the Environmental Protection Administration Hau Lung-bin (
Ou was seen as the best candidate for the city government, owing to his popularity among the party's grass-roots supporters and his years of municipal experience as Ma's aide.
His decision not to run in the election surprised many KMT supporters.
While Yeh has taken over Ma's municipal duties during his trip to Europe and is using every chance to attend as many events as possible to promote his own image, Ou's remarks could cause headaches for Ma and his city government, since that would mean that two of the mayor's aides will be competing for his job.
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