Two Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators-at-large who have secured party candidacies for November’s mayoral and county commissioner elections should honor a 2015 agreement and resign from their posts, KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Lantern Festival celebratory event in Taipei, Wu said that four of the KMT’s 11 legislators-at-large were divided into a “political group” and during the nomination process signed an affidavit pledging that they would not refuse a party nomination for the upcoming nine-in-one local elections, scheduled for Nov. 24.
“The affidavit states that if any of the legislators-at-large from the political group is deemed the most suitable and competent candidate to run for a mayoral or commissioner post, they cannot say no, or else their legislative seat will be rescinded,” Wu said.
Those who have been nominated by the party are required to resign from their current posts at an opportune time, he added, referring to legislators Chang Li-shan (張麗善) and Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), who are to run for Yilan and Hualien commissioner respectively.
However, Wu did not answer affirmatively when asked about the fate of KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚), another legislator-at-large in the “political group” who has declined to run against Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), a popular local government head.
The affidavit is part of then-KMT chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) plan in late 2015 to cultivate party talent for future races by demanding that KMT members in the “political group” resign two years into their terms and join mayoral or commissioner elections.
The KMT won 11 at-large seats — which are awarded to parties in proportion to the number of nationwide party votes they receive — in the 2016 presidential and legislative elections, four of which were given to candidates in the group.
John Wu served as Taoyuan mayor from 2009 to 2014, when he was defeated by Cheng in a local election.
“If the KMT’s Taoyuan chapter and party headquarters after thorough consideration were to determine that John Wu is not a must-have and the only strong candidate, there is no reason why his legislative seat should be rescinded,” Wu Den-yih said.
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