President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen spoke in Taipei yesterday morning in response to a report in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday that said Hsieh seemed destined to lose the election because he would not be able to win the key constituencies of Taichung and Yunlin counties.
Brushing off the report, Chen, citing his own experience, said that various polls had put his ticket with Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) in third place in the run-up to the 2000 presidential election, but they nevertheless went on to win.
PHOTO: CNA
In the 2004 presidential election, Chen said that several polls by local media claimed that 60 percent of the respondents favored the ticket of Lien Chan (連戰) and James Soong (宋楚瑜).
However, in the end, he and Lu were re-elected, Chen said.
For next year's presidential election, Chen said Hsieh was in a much better position than he had been in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, so he had total confidence in Hsieh's ability to win.
Those who support Taiwan and hold a positive view of the country will win, while those who fail to support it will lose, Chen said.
"These invariably are the rules of the game," he said.
As to Hsieh's running mate, Chen said he believed Hsieh would nominate a suitable candidate and that it was quite normal to listen different opinions before a candidate is chosen in democracies.
At a separate setting yesterday, Hsieh's campaign manager Lee Ying-yuan (
"The media speculation was nothing but speculation," Lee said.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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