After a landslide victory in the local elections on Saturday, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is planning to nominate a candidate for the 2024 president election by the first half of next year, a source said yesterday.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) — who convincingly won re-election, receiving more than 450,000 votes more than the runner-up, former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) — is seen by many in the party as “the most legitimate” contender among KMT officials, the source said.
However, whether KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) would be willing to yield the opportunity to Hou remains to be seen, they added.
Ahead of Saturday, Chu set an ambitious goal of winning mayoral elections in more than three of the nation’s six special municipalities, among at least 16 races for top positions in cities and counties.
Although the KMT’s candidates came in third in Hsinchu City and Miaoli County, and the party lost in Penghu County and Kinmen County, winning four special municipalities and 13 cities or counties in total is an overall victory for the party, which came back from a crushing defeat in the four referendums on Dec. 18 last year.
Chu can take credit for the election wins, as well as putting the KMT back in charge of Taoyuan, which has been governed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since it was upgraded to a special municipality in 2014, political observers said.
Even if he did not run for president himself, Chu would certainly have a say in the party’s nomination, they said, adding that the focus of attention would be whether Chu would “maneuver the political machine … to block Hou.”
Although many KMT members regard Hou as having the best chance of winning the presidential election, running for the post only one year after winning re-election as mayor might be risky, some political watchers said.
Hou won re-election with about 62.42 percent of the vote, far exceeding the 57.2 percent of votes he received in 2018.
However, Hou should take into consideration whether the voters in New Taipei City would also support his presidential bid, they said.
Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday said that Hou would have to convince those who voted for him and, if he decides to run for president, consider who could win in a byelection to replace him as mayor.
Another potential contender comes from central Taiwan.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) won re-election by defeating DPP candidate Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) by more than 270,000 votes, which makes her another possible presidential candidate for the KMT, political observers said.
Lu yesterday said she “never thought about” running for president, adding that her focus is on working hard for Taichung.
Additional reporting by Chen Chien-chih
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
RSS