Defeated in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential primaries, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is facing questions about his next, and some say final, move.
He has rejected making a run on the vice-presidential ticket and downplayed suggestions that he try for the legislature and head the DPP caucus. He has also denied wanting any other government post.
Faced with calls from DPP lawmakers and politicians clamoring to know what he plans next, Su has remained silent.
Right now, former campaign officials say, the former premier, 64, just wants to rest with family and friends.
“He plans to take the whole family out before Mother’s Day, for a vacation all around Taiwan — to have a bit of rest,” Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶), Su’s spokesperson in the primary campaign, said yesterday.
On his Facebook page, Su posted a picture yesterday morning of himself leaning against his elderly mother.
“I said: ‘I don’t have to run out the door today. I have much more time to take you around and see things,’” he wrote in a caption “liked” by more than 10,000 Internet supporters.
Su is not expected to fade from public view, at least not yet, with the ink still wet on the primary results — which saw contender Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) win by a margin of 1.35 percentage points.
After the official results were disclosed on Wednesday, Su immediately endorsed Tsai and called on supporters to back his former opponent — leaving the door open to cooperation between the two.
The move immediately won him accolades from party politicians, who labeled him a statesman who has refused to be drawn into partisan infighting.
Calls from DPP lawmakers for him to play a role in the legislature are likely to grow — a move that was discussed, but downplayed during the presidential campaign.
However, while Su clearly ruled out running for vice president, he has remained more ambiguous on whether he would be willing to ride a wave of DPP popularity into legislative speaker, or, failing that, caucus chief.
The compromise for the runner-up in the primaries was first discussed by Tsai’s campaign, but Su later said he had never considered the idea.
“We do hope that Su carefully reconsiders, especially as voters have shown their strong support for the [idea],” DPP Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩) said in remarks backed by other DPP lawmakers.
Asked about the issue, Su’s campaign remained elusive, issuing a statement that remained open to speculation.
“It wasn’t a big win or a big loss,” Lee said of the primary. “Everybody has a common target, which is to take President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) down, and Su will still play a helping role in the general elections.”
Lee said that Su would continue to maintain a public presence, especially in art or charity-related events, although this would be slightly scaled back.
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