The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday said it would halt all electoral cooperation with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Hsinchu County, after the allied opposition parties refused to defer to each other’s preferred candidate in the Jhubei City mayoral race.
On Thursday, the second-to-last day to formally enter the race, the KMT’s Wu Hsu-chih (吳旭智) and TPP’s Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) registered as candidates for Jhubei mayor in the local elections on Nov. 28.
They would face off against Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tseng Sheng-kai (曾聖凱).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
While Wu initially tried to downplay the KMT-TPP standoff, saying that cooperation in the race was still possible, comments by another local KMT candidate appeared to fan the flames.
Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the KMT’s nominee for Hsinchu county commissioner, of which Jhubei City is a part, said on Friday during an interview that the parties had not made any agreement on who should defer to whom in the Jhubei race, and that the TPP had never formally pledged to support a primary.
On Saturday, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) accused the KMT and Hsu of “going back on their word,” and then making matters worse by “continuing to lie about it in public.”
At a meeting of the TPP’s Central Committee yesterday morning, the party passed a resolution suspending electoral cooperation with the KMT on all races in Hsinchu County.
TPP Secretary-General Chou Yu-hsiu (周榆修) said after the meeting that the KMT and Hsu’s “inability to keep promises” had “seriously damaged the foundation of mutual trust that the TPP and KMT have gradually built over the last two years.”
Chou also called on TPP members to unite behind its nominee in the Jhubei race, warning that any party members who publicly support or stand on stage with an opponent would face disciplinary measures, including possible expulsion.
The larger opposition KMT and smaller TPP reached an agreement in March to coordinate candidates and cooperate on policy positions in the elections.
Under the agreement, the TPP has agreed to support the KMT’s mayoral or magistrate nominees in New Taipei City, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Yilan County.
Meanwhile, the KMT is supporting the TPP’s candidate in Chiayi City, while the parties have agreed to jointly support an independent in Chiayi County and an independent former TPP member in Hsinchu City.
Hsu was the founder in 2015 of the Minkuotang, a KMT splinter party. Wu is also a former Minkuotang chairman.
Jhubei, and Hsinchu County in general, have grown rapidly and gained prominence in the past few years because of their proximity to Hsinchu Science Park.
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