The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Youth Department yesterday said that 3,545 people under the age of 40 became party members last year, up about 40 percent from 2019.
Department director Chen Kuan-an (陳冠安) shared the figure while delivering a report on the department’s youth development plans for this year to members of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee at their weekly meeting in Taipei.
The meeting was chaired by KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
Estimates based on data from National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed that the KMT received about 3 million fewer votes than the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from voters aged 20 to 39 in last year’s presidential election, Chen said.
The 3,545 young members were willing to join the KMT at its “darkest moment,” Chen said, referring to the period following the KMT’s defeat in the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11 last year.
In 2019, the KMT had only about 9,000 members under the age of 40, he said, attributing the increase to the efforts of the KMT Institute of Revolutionary Practice, as well as his department.
At the end of last year, the KMT was about 4.7 percent behind the DPP in terms of support from young people, the closest-ever margin, he said, citing data released by the KMT-affiliated National Policy Foundation in November last year.
The closing of the gap since the election shows that the KMT has a chance to, and should try to, win the support of young people, he said.
The KMT’s youth, new media and policy research departments would each, through an open call, recruit deputy directors from young people who have previously participated in camps and salons held by the KMT, Chen said.
A spokesperson position in the KMT Culture and Communications Committee could also be reserved for someone who gained an audition, Chiang said.
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