TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Saturday (November 30) publicly disagreed with a statement by Foxconn Technology founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) that Taiwan needed two large political parties and two small ones.

The two have been seen as allies in the run-up to the January 11 presidential and legislative elections. On Saturday, they appeared in public together with presidential candidate and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

Gou said the best option for the new Legislative Yuan was for no party to have an absolute majority and that there would be two significant smaller opposition parties. As the tycoon has allies on both the PFP's legislator-at-large list and on the list presented by Ko’s Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), his remarks were seen as pleasing to both sides.

However, Ko told reporters that he did not agree with Gou’s view. It would still be better if there were only a single third party in the event neither of the larger ones won a majority, CNA quoted the mayor as saying.

He added that the presence of a third party would reduce confrontation in politics, with parties less likely to regard each other as enemies and refuse cooperation.

As to whether or not he supported Soong’s bid for the presidency, Ko noted that there were still 40 days left in the campaign, saying there is still time before having to announce a choice.

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Democratic Progressive Party has held an absolute majority in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan since 2016 and is fighting to maintain the status quo in order to push through further reforms.

Earlier in the week, PFP legislative candidate and close Gou ally Amanda Liu (劉宥彤) said that a continued DPP majority would be a nightmare.