The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is to hold its chairperson election on Oct. 18, with the new leader to take office on Nov. 1, the party said today ahead of a formal announcement tomorrow.
The schedule and regulations were approved by the party’s Central Standing Committee today.
Candidates can collect registration forms between Sep. 1 and 5, and file their registration on Sep. 4 and 5.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The new party chair would take up the position on Nov. 1 at the party’s National Congress.
As the recall campaigns are not yet over, the party would focus its efforts on the seven lawmakers facing a recall vote on Aug. 23, KMT Organizational Development Committee chair Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said.
Given that ballots from overseas can take five weeks to mail back to Taiwan, the voting date was set for October, Hsu said.
Some had proposed Sept. 27 as a voting day, but that would fall on Teachers’ Day, followed by the Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ten National Day and Retrocession Day, Hsu said.
There had been rumors a new party chair would take their place on the last weekend of October after a September election, sources said.
The delay is due to party leadership prioritizing the remaining recall campaigns and the referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, party insiders said.
In May, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said the party would announce the election this month, hold a vote in September and complete the handover at the National Congress at the end of October.
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