KMT Party Members Call for Election of Local Chapter Directors

 KMT Party Members Call for Election of Local Chapter Directors

Source: All Taipei Newspapers

Aug. 10, 2016

The KMT suffered an overwhelming defeat in the 2016 Presidential and Legislative Elections. KMT party delegates in local chapters have called for direct election of local chapter directors by KMT members. Currently, the party central directly appoints the local chapter directors.  

 During a meeting with local party delegates in Kaohsiung yesterday, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) responded by saying that she hoped the proposal could be put on hold until several necessary complementary measures were completed.   

 According to Yao Chiang-lin (姚江臨), a member of KMT’s Central Standing Committee, former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who was concurrently KMT chairman, had included direct election of local chapter directors as one of his party chairmanship election campaign planks. However, he did not fulfill his promise, nor did the following chairpersons, Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄), Eric Chu (朱立倫), and Hung Hsiu-chu.    

 Yao also initiated a signature drive for endorsements yesterday during the meeting, calling for direct election from party members in local chapters. Yao stated that he planned to introduce this proposal during the 19^th KMT Party National Congress scheduled for September, adding that approximately one hundred party delegates had co-sponsored his proposal, exceeding the threshold of 60 delegates for such matters. (A total member of over 1,300 party delegates attend the Party National Congress) According to an informed source, many delegates also initiated similar signature drives in other counties with the same purpose, that is, democracy within the party, Yao concluded.         

 KMT First Vice Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) stated that he had also supported a similar proposal in the past, but he knew it was not simple after he joined the KMT party central. Chan went on to say that he believed it would be better to implement the reforms step by step and plan the complementary measures first.  

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