Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如), who has been suspended by the party over her alleged involvement in a bribery case in connection with a municipal development project in Taipei, attended KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) campaign event in Beitou District (北投) yesterday.
Lai, who lost her KMT nomination because of her suspension, is expected to run for re-election as an independent candidate on Nov. 29.
While denied by the KMT, it has been rumored that the party has chosen to nominate four — instead of five — candidates for Lai’s electoral district, Shilin (士林) and Beitou, to “pay courtesy” to her.
Photo: CNA
Several boroughs in Lai’s electoral district have also reportedly been kept open for “joint management” — rather than directly assigned to a particular candidate — by the KMT, allegedly to allow Lai to have a share.
Lien, campaigning at a temple in Shipai (石牌) where Lai also appeared, dodged a question from reporters as to whether he would support Lai’s candidacy by responding: “All the councilors [who have participated in yesterday’s activity] are all councilors that are from this district.”
“[Yesterday] was the Saintly Emperor Guan’s (關聖帝君) birthday and I am a representative from Shipai, so there’s no question that I should accompany [Lien] when he stopped by,” Lai said.
On the same occasion, Lien also remarked on what Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) said on Saturday about the idea of Taiwanese independence being “a natural ingredient” of the younger generation.
“It might be that the young people she has been interacting with are like that, but those I have been in contact with are not. This is a plural and diverse society. No one could monopolize or determine what the young people think,” he said.
Responding to questions over his delay in announcing his platform, Lien said that he and his team have been proposing various policies on city development, youth, finance and industry, but “have to admit that we had a late start in propaganda.”
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