President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) plans to officially open his campaign office on Sunday in his bid for re-election in January.
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who said earlier this month that he would not serve as Ma’s running mate, will take over as chairman of Ma’s campaign team, while former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), Ma’s long-time aide, will be director-general of the campaign team.
The office will be located in the Bade Building next to the KMT’s headquarters in Taipei.
Photo: Chan Chao-yang, Taipei Times
Top government officials and party heavyweights, including Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Legislative Vice Speaker Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), are to attend the launch ceremony.
The KMT is expected to announce that Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) will be Ma’s running mate at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting either next Wednesday or on June 22, a KMT official said.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the party would officially announce the presidential and vice presidential nominees at the party congress on June 25 and that the office would be “upgraded” to a campaign headquarters in September or October.
Wang, Tseng and other heavyweights from local KMT factions will join in the campaign efforts to seek support for the president in the south.
The campaign office will be headed by King under the title “Taiwan Go Go Go,” while former presidential office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) will lead the news media, social networking and youth department to enhance communications with Internet users.
Ma, 61, will campaign under the slogan “Keep on walking, Taiwan. Victory for Taiwan” against Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The KMT said the campaign office would recruit more young people to join the team and help organize campaign events nationwide.
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