The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) election supervisory body yesterday revoked a controversial decision to refer KMT chair candidate Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) to the party’s disciplinary committee.
Chang, whose popularity rose after a televised debate on Sept. 4, is one of four candidates in the KMT’s chair election to take place on Saturday next week.
The other candidates are former Changhua County commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), incumbent KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who was KMT chairman from January 2015 to January 2016.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The KMT Central Election Supervision Committee at a meeting on Monday decided to refer Chang, who is president of Sun Yat-sen School, to the party’s Central Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee, citing what it described as Chang’s repeated verbal attacks against Chu during the campaign.
The election committee also said that it would postpone a series of regional platform presentations for the candidates until after the disciplinary committee had ruled on the matter.
Chiang on Monday said that he was surprised by the election committee’s decision and urged its members to reconsider.
New Taipei City Councilor Chen Ming-yi (陳明義), who represents Chiang on the election committee, was not at the meeting when the decision was made, Chiang said.
The election committee’s decision two weeks before the vote would not help to resolve issues within the KMT and could lead to controversy, he said.
Chu later on Monday said that he hoped the disciplinary committee would not penalize Chang, and called on Chiang and the KMT Central Standing Committee to “revoke the order” to refer Chang to the disciplinary committee.
Chiang responded by saying that on Aug. 17 he took a leave of absence from his position as KMT chairman to campaign for re-election and therefore he has no say over party affairs.
Whereas Chen did not attend the election committee meeting, Chu’s representative, Yao Chiang-lin (姚江臨) did, Chiang said.
The election committee met yesterday and approved a proposal from Chen to rescind both the decision to refer Chang to the disciplinary committee and to postpone the regional platform presentations, the KMT said.
Chang in a statement later yesterday said that the controversy had caused people to question the neutrality of the party’s election officials.
The KMT should clear up the doubts of the candidates, party members and public, by issuing an explanation and holding those involved responsible, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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