Tue, Jul 15, 2014 page3

• REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: KMT faces tough poll battle to retain control

  • By Peng Hsien-chun 彭顯鈞 / Staff reporter
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  With the seven-in-one elections just four months away, top Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers acknowledge that they face a daunting task and said they are focusing their efforts on retaining control over cities and counties that the party currently controls.

  The prevailing mood in the party is downcast, KMT officials who wished to remain anonymous said, mainly due to disenchanted voters unhappy with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and public dissatisfaction with rising food, consumer and utilities prices and stagnant wages.

  The KMT currently holds power in 15 cities and counties: Taipei, New Taipei, Greater Taichung, Keelung, Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, and Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou, Changhua, Taitung, Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties.

  Taoyuan County is to be upgraded at the end of the year to become the nation’s sixth special municipality.

  It is the KMT’s priority to retain its hold in three of the special municipalities — Taipei, New Taipei City and Greater Taichung — but that has become an increasingly difficult task, party sources said, adding that the only firm prospect is New Taipei City, where incumbent Eric Chu (朱立倫) is running for re-election.

  Taipei is a traditional stronghold for the pan-blue camp, but surveys by different media outlets show that KMT candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) has fallen behind Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is representing the cross-party opposition alliance.

  In Taoyuan County, a corruption scandal involving former Taoyuan deputy commissioner Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文) has cut down the KMT’s initial massive lead to only a slight edge.

  Although the KMT is still ahead in public polls in Taoyuan County, party officials said that if it loses the lead, it would be an important sign of change.

  Party sources added that the situation in Greater Taichung is also very worrisome, as Taichung Mayor Jason Hu’s (胡志強) 13-year tenure has seemingly become a burden. In public polls, Hu has consistently lagged Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), the challenger from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

  KMT officials acknowledged that Hu is trailing by a considerable margin and said the party is trying to consolidate local pan-blue factions, especially in the districts which made up the former Taichung County.

  In Keelung City, the KMT announced on Wednesday last week that it was nullifying the candidacy of Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰), who is under investigation for corruption.

  Party insiders said the move was to stop the bleeding, because it would not reflect well on the party to have photographs of Huang with Lien or with Chu, if the party wants a northern Taipei sweep.

  Outside of the special municipalities, Yunlin County is as a possible gain, with the party hopeful of wrestling control from the DPP, KMT officials said.

  The KMT has nominated Chang Li-shan (張麗善), sister of former county commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味), in a bid to rally local political factions together, but more grassroots campaign is needed to solidify factional support, sources said.

  Chiayi City is the only electorate region in southern Taiwan under KMT control, but the party is finding it hard to consolidate party support because of factional divisions. If the party’s push for consolidation fails, it is likely to cede political control over the city to the pan-green camp.

  Meanwhile, corruption investigations have tainted the top offices of Changhua County and Nantou County, giving the DPP a fair chance of winning the races there, political observers have said.

  However, KMT sources said the party believes it still holds a substantial lead in Nantou County and that efforts to consolidate support in Changhua County have yielded positive results.

  As for southern Taiwan, KMT officials see very little chance of winning given the strong support for the pan-green camp in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.

  As for the other regions, while the KMT faces difficult battles in Keelung City and Chiayi City, it still enjoys pan-blue majority support in Hsinchu City, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Nantou and Taitung counties, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang electoral districts.

  It is a general consensus that the KMT could claim a “major victory” if it could hang on to all its incumbent regional seats, party officials said.

  “If we lose Chiayi City, it does not really constitute a defeat. However, if we lose one of the special municipalities, it is a big defeat. If we lose more than one special municipality, then it is a massive defeat for the party,” an unnamed party official said.

  With Ma’s tanking approval rating, KMT insiders said they do not have a have a political star to lead the election campaign.

  “Right now, the mood is rather gloomy within the party. It is like an army going into battle without a commander. The only way we can boost our chances of winning is if pan-blue supporters are aware of the crisis and danger we are facing,” KMT officials said, hoping that this would drive its supporters to unite and vote for its candidates.

  Translated by staff writer Jason Pan
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