The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would consider it a defeat if it lost three mayoral posts in five of the cities in next month’s special municipal elections, KMT -Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said, adding that he did not see the Nov. 27 elections as a precursor to the 2012 presidential election.
King made the remarks in an interview on Thursday. King said that if the KMT is able to retain three of the five posts (in which the KMT currently holds Taipei City, Taipei County and Taichung County), the election would not be regarded as a defeat, although it would not necessarily be seen as a win either.
“Of course Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) [King’s Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) counterpart] could very well taunt the pan-blues for merely holding their ground,” King said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
King, who had previously said that he saw a chance of winning in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, said on Thursday that the two areas were “tough grounds” where the DPP receives more support than the KMT.
As such, the KMT should conduct a self-evaluation of the insufficient effort it has put into these areas, he said.
King, meanwhile, was adamant that the KMT would not resort to the “dump-save” effect (棄保效應) or “strategic voting,” diverting its supporters from the KMT’s Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) to vote for -Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who is running as an independent after withdrawing his membership from the DPP in August.
“The KMT will fight until the last minute, despite the gloomy prospects for the party in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung,” King said.
On Greater Taichung, King said KMT mayoral candidate Jason Hu (胡志強) still holds a stable lead in the race ahead of Hu’s DPP rival Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全).
Commenting on reports that said an internal poll by the DPP suggested Su was closing in on Hu, King said it was natural in the run-up to the election for the DPP to strategically claim that polls showed Su narrowing the margin.
“I can only say that our polls showed quite different results from that conducted by the DPP,” he said, adding that he always believed in the existence of swing voters, with middle-aged voters, who comprise the majority of that group.
Going all out to defend its rule over Taipei, the KMT is planning to mobilize 100,000 supporters to gather in front of the Presidential Office on Nov. 21. The DPP camp has described the plan, dubbed by some KMT members as “a Saving Private Hau battle,” as a display of the party’s lack of self-confidence in winning the election and of its inner anxiety.
While acknowledging that the recent scandals surrounding Taipei’s Xinsheng Overpass (新生高架橋) has had a negative impact on Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) re-election bid, King reiterated his confidence in Hau’s integrity.
King said that residents of Taipei and Sinbei (the name by which Taipei County will be known as after it is upgraded in December) have enough wisdom to determine who is sincere in running in the mayoral races and who is simply treating the election as a stepping stone for the 2012 presidential election.
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