The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is planning to set up an “elite training class” to bring in more talent as the party prepares for the seven-in-one elections scheduled for 2014, party sources said.
The party has undergone a personnel reshuffle following its win in the Jan. 14 presidential election. Besides undertaking party reform, a major objective of the party is to launch a recruitment program as well as a training project for new talent, the sources said.
However, it had been rumored that several recruitment qualifications were set: Potential candidates had to be aged between 25 and 45, have a degree and not be descended from a political family.
The rumored requirements were said to have aroused anger among some party members, leading President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as party chairman, to dismiss the rumor, saying no such qualifications had ever been proposed, sources said.
The party has reportedly launched its recruitment scheme under the aegis of the “Chung-hsing [rejuvenation] Elite Group,” which was launched in 2004 by then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to offer training to newly recruited members.
The party’s Organizational Development Committee and the National Development Institute have been put in charge of the program, sources said. Sources said the number of trainees might exceed the previous 400 trained by the Chunghsing Elite Group.
Complaints have been filed over political families monopolizing grassroots level politics and blocking new talent from emerging, the sources said.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff Writer
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