Supporters of Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (?]) were still adamant that the two-term Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayor would announce an independent bid before the end of the month despite missing a predicted deadline yesterday.
Head of the Friends of Hsu Tain-tsair organization Liao Wen-chen (廖文振), who is said to be close to Hsu, had previously said Hsu would announce his entry into the Greater Tainan race by yesterday at the latest. He yesterday said Hsu would make a formal announcement to the effect either tomorrow or on Aug. 27.
Hsu is said to be unhappy with his loss to DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) in May in the party primaries, which Hsu thought were biased and unfair. Results of the primary sparked outrage among Hsu’s supporters who have said the 59-year old deserved another term.
Liao said his group had already gathered more than 100,000 signatures on a petition urging Hsu to run and had finished printing campaign advertisements and clothing for supporters.
In the past week, the group had also created a number of local chapters in townships and villages throughout Tainan County.
On Friday, it issued an open letter calling on supporters to drop their support for both the DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates and instead shore up Hsu’s potential re-election bid.
At a separate setting yesterday, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) downplayed the chance of another party split in a campaign stop, saying: “We are on top of the situation and it is under discussion.”
However, she said she could not speak “too much on the issue because everything is still being handled.”
Speculation on Hsu’s future with the party comes just days after Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) defected from the DPP to announce an independent bid for Greater Kaohsiung mayor. Yang was also dissatisfied with losing the party primaries.
Sources in the DPP said that a number of senior party officials and DPP elders would continue to travel to Tainan to meet with Hsu this week. The list could include Tsai and former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃).
Lai said that he believed Hsu would not break away from the DPP and announce a separate bid, based on his “feeling of responsibility to Taiwan.”
“We sincerely hope that he will be able to stay and continue to work with us,” Lai said.
Hsu could not be reached for a comment by press time yesterday.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
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