People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday expressed confidence in his ability to win votes in Miaoli County after he was greeted by several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidates during his visit to a former commissioner of the traditional KMT stronghold.
Soong paid a visit to former county commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬), a local heavyweight with a strong grassroots political network, at Fu’s home in Gongguan Township (公館) yesterday morning, which was packed with hundreds of Soong’s supporters and KMT members.
Miaoli County Council deputy speaker Chen Ming-chao (陳明朝) of the KMT, KMT legislative candidate Hsu Chih-jung (徐志榮) and Chiu Li-li (邱俐俐), executive officer to KMT Legislator Chen Chao-ming (陳超明), were among the crowd.
Fu praised Soong for his leadership and execution capability during his term as Taiwan’s provincial governor, urging voters to rise above political affiliations in next year’s presidential race and support someone with the ability to actually govern.
“Apparently, I flipped Miaoli. Many [KMT] local heavyweights have chosen to come out to support me,” Soong said, before singing Hakka folk songs.
Soong said he plans to put individuals of Hakka origin in significant positions in the coalition government he promised to establish if elected for the top office and vowed to reinvigorate the Hakka spirit and culture.
Soong later visited former vice president Li Yuan-zu (李元簇) of the KMT, who also openly threw his support behind the PFP candidate.
KMT Miaoli County executive committee director Liu Ming-jen (劉明仁) said that all of the party’s county councilors and borough wardens present were only there due to their personal ties with Fu.
Liu added that all of them informed the party in advance of their plans to attend the event.
The attendance of KMT members and pan-blue vote brokers at Soong’s campaign events over the past few weeks has reportedly unnerved the ruling party, which has interpreted Soong’s moves as an attempt to lure pan-blue political figures into his party’s fold.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) has recently repeatedly called for unity and cooperation, as several members have “jumped ship” to the PFP.
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