Blue Camp Needs to Overcome Crisis in Six Local Elections

Blue Camp Needs to Overcome Crisis in Six Local Elections

Source: All Taipei newspapers
October 6, 2009

The registration of candidacy for the year-end county and mayoral elections began on Monday. Infighting within the Blue camp has occurred in six counties which are Hsinchu, Nantou, Hualien, Taitung, and Kinmen as well as DPP-controlled Chiayi. The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) has been doing its utmost to seek coordination within the party.

In Hsinchu, County Speaker Chang Pi-chin, a KMT member, yesterday completed registration of her candidacy for the county executive in spite of the fact that high-level party officials had tried to persuade her not to register. Chang said that she would insist on her full participation in the election.

On the other hand, Taoyuan County Speaker Tseng Chung-yi said that he had rejected an invitation from the DPP to “run in the Taoyuan election on behalf of the DPP”.

The KMT has nominated Legislator Chiu Ching-chun to run for the Hsinchu County Executive, and Legislator John Wu (Chih-Yang), KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung’s son, to run for Taoyuan County Executive.

Juan Kang-meng, chairman of the KMT Central Evaluation and Discipline Committee, said “any KMT members who run in elections without the party’s nomination shall either have their membership revoked or be expelled from the party.”

According to an informed source in the KMT, the KMT would likely maintain its political turf after the local elections as long as the party could remain in power in key counties, such as Taoyuan and Changhua, and other cities. The special municipal elections slated for the end of 2010 would be critical to the party, the source said.

[Editor’s note: Five special municipalities are Taipei City, Hsinpei (Xinbei) City (two tentative transliterations), Taichung City, Tainan City, and Kaohsiung City. Registration for the local elections 2009 will close on Friday. The elections will be held on December 5 for 17 county executives and mayors across the country. ]
 

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