TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — KMT Vice Chair Li Chien-lung (李乾龍) on Tuesday rejected rumors that the KMT and TPP favored allowing TPP Zhubei mayoral candidate Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) to run on the opposition's joint ticket.
Former KMT lawmaker Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) announced Monday that he was facilitating cooperation between the two parties in the Zhubei mayoral race. In an interview with UDN, Lin said the consensus candidate for Zhubei mayor was Chiu, while KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) was the preferred candidate for the Hsinchu magistrate race, adding that the final decision rested with the two party chairs.
TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that although he had received calls from Lin, subsequent talks with KMT Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) revealed that Lin's promises were not aligned with the situation within the KMT, per UP Media. Li also denied the rumors, stressing that Lin's comments were not true, per NOWNews.
Sources within the KMT suggested that KMT Zhubei mayoral candidate Wu Hsu-chih (吳旭智) was not dropping out to allow Chiu to run on the opposition's ticket. Lin later wrote on Facebook that he had done all he could to facilitate the opposition coalition, per Storm Media.
Mirror Media reported that the KMT and TPP had not yet begun high-level talks on selecting a joint candidate for the Zhubei mayoral race. A source within the KMT told the paper that Hsu's poor performance in internal polling, along with anger among TPP supporters following the collapse of cooperation in Zhubei, had prompted Lin, a member of her faction, to release the information in hopes of forcing Wu to drop out and regaining TPP support.
The affidavit for the KMT's Zhubei mayoral primary recently came to light, per NOWNews. A clause specified that the winner must abide by the mechanism negotiated by the TPP and KMT, requiring the winner to support whichever candidate the mechanism selected for the opposition coalition.
KMT mayoral primary candidate Lin Chi-hsien (林啟賢) suggested that talks between the two parties must have occurred for a clause concerning the candidate selection mechanism to appear on the affidavit. He acknowledged that although the party did not inform candidates that they would have to allow the TPP's preferred candidate to run, it also did not rule out the possibility.
Lin Chi-hsien called on the KMT to handle the situation carefully to avoid affecting the party's chances of retaining Hsinchu County. Fellow primary candidate Lin Yu-yu (林禹佑) said the understanding among the candidates was that the TPP and KMT would decide the opposition candidate through polling.
Lin Yu-yu argued that the TPP had not discussed its next move with the KMT and, instead, sought to communicate its stance through the media. He added that KMT supporters were baffled by the TPP's insistence on pushing its candidate.
Commenting on the situation, a local KMT insider noted that, with Wu enjoying a commanding lead over Chiu in the polls, the KMT was ready for a three-way race in Zhubei, per ETtoday. The insider added that the latest poll on the Hsinchu County race indicated that the TPP had roughly 30,000 supporters remaining in the county.
Another KMT source told ETtoday that while no one wanted a three-way race in the county, Hsu had no basis to persuade Wu to drop out since they both won their nominations through primaries.
