With the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections just a week away, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma took the opportunity to deny allegations that his party was banking on the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) recent string of scandals to deter voters.
"The DPP has been involved in a string of corruption scandals and has been renounced by the people ... But the KMT doesn't take any pleasure in this and we are not building our success on the failure of others," Ma said while attending a campaign event for his party's candidates for city councilor.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The KMT, however, has defined the elections as "a vote of no confidence in President Chen Shui-bian (
Urging all party candidates to serve the people with integrity, Ma said he predicted KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Hau Lung-bin (
Vowing to win the election, Hau, who leads other candidates in the polls, dismissed accusations that he had not made enough of an effort to visit municipal districts to solicit grassroots support.
Hau said he was "concerned by the smear tactics employed by DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (
Hau Lung-bin's camp claimed that Hsieh's camp was planning to spread a rumor that Hau Lung-bin has an illegitimate son.
"The rumor is a joke. But as the election is approaching, I can't overlook such smear tactics," Hau said.
Citing the case of KMT Legislator Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who lost the last Kaohsiung mayoral election to Hsieh over a rumor that Wu had an affair with a female reporter, Hau said he would take legal action if Hsieh spread any rumors about him.
Hsieh denied spreading any rumors and said he would provide evidence of Hau Pei-tsun's involvement in the Lafayette scandal.
"I've never make any accusations that Hau had an illegitimate son. They [Hau's camp] said it -- we never said any such thing," Hsieh said.
Acknowledging that the party's election outlook was not as bright in Kaohsiung as it was in Taipei, Ma will spend the weekend campaigning for KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英).
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