The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will hold a big rally in Taipei City next month to garner support for Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) amid concerns over his re--election bid in the special municipality elections on Nov. 27.
The rally will take place on Nov. 21 on Ketagalan Boulevard, with the KMT planning to mobilize more than 20,000 party members and supporters to join the campaign activity. The party’s Taipei branch added that it hoped for a turn-out of 100,000 at the rally.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) and top party officials have been focusing their campaign efforts on Tainan and Kaohsiung, where the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) enjoys wide support. However, it decided to hold a rally in Taipei City one week before the election after polls showed a continuing tug-of-war between the mayor and his DPP rival, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Hau’s support rate plummeted when the Xinsheng Overpass reconstruction project scandal erupted last month. A poll released last week by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) showed Su slightly ahead of Hau, with a support rate of 37.45 percent against Hau’s 36.84 percent.
King acknowledged in an interview with the Chinese-language United Daily News on Thursday that the scandal had affected support for Hau, especially among swing voters, and said the party would put more effort into lifting Hau’s support rate by 10 points in the following weeks.
King accused the DPP of trying to politicize the scandal in the hope that it would affect the election, but said that such an “isolated incident” would not seriously damage Hau’s chances.
Hau’s campaign spokesmanm, Fan Chiang Chi-tai (范姜基泰), said yesterday that the KMT would continue to promote Hau’s municipal achievements as the main campaign strategy, and would seek to raise Taipei residents’ pride in the city through the Taipei International Flora Expo, which starts next Saturday.
In the final weeks before the election, King said the party would focus on attracting swing voters in Taipei City, Sinbei City (Taipei County’s new name after it is upgraded in December) and Greater Taichung to raise the support rate of their candidates. In Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, the KMT will call for party unity and consolidate its basic support base.
“It will be a defeat for the KMT if we only grab two cities. I will keep my promise and take responsibility for the election results,” he said after campaigning with the KMT’s Greater Tainan mayoral candidate Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財).
Commenting on the KMT’s planned rally in Taipei, DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) questioned which tactic the KMT would use to attract 100,000 people to the rally.
“Their administration has been disappointing and the performance of local KMT municipalities has also been abysmal,” he said. “How are they going to kindle the passion of their supporters?”
He called King’s announcement another exercise in fostering a more partisan political environment, saying that the only card the KMT had left was “creating an atmosphere of blue and green tension.”
The move, he contended, “would not be accepted by voters next month,” adding the DPP was “not worried” by the development.
He said the DPP did not believe that “one rally, two rallies or even five rallies” would affect the results of the elections.
Additional reporting by Vincent Y. Chao
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