Calls to unseat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
KMT lawmakers also agreed to team up with their People First Party (PFP) counterparts to establish a nomination strategy for the year-end legislative elections in a bid to win a majority of legislative seats.
KMT lawmakers made the appeals during a luncheon with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang told reporters he had informed Lien about the luncheon in advance, while KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (
"Wang was ordered by Lien to solicit opinions from KMT law-makers about the political climate after the presidential election, the nomination method of the year-end legislative election and the path the party would take in the future," Tsai said.
Wang scheduled two more lunches with 56 other KMT law-makers for the following three days, following which Lien is expected to meet lawmakers to hear their opinions first-hand, Tsai added.
During the luncheon, lawmaker Apollo Chen (
"The party should activate its party reform mechanism and let Wang and Ma take charge of party reforms," Chen said.
KMT Legislator Chang Chang-tsai (張昌財) said that the party had to change its leader.
Saying he did not have any preference for a particular person, Chang pointed out the importance of electing the party chairman democratically.
In addition to calling for a change in the party leadership, KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (
"The party has to adjust itself to lean toward the middle of the political spectrum to prevent the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) associating the KMT with violence or China," he said.
Trying to play down his colleagues' grievances, KMT caucus whip Liao Feng-te (
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (
"It seems that Lien doesn't consider himself to be responsible for the election defeat, as he blamed his first election failure on former president Lee Teng-hui (
"Even those who have the slightest sense of honor would apologize for the two election fiascos, but he's still shamelessly hanging on to his position," said DPP caucus Secretary-General Lee Chun-yee (
"KMT members with a sense of rationality should come out and speed up the party's reform, instead of allowing those who have lost their mind to cause more damage to the nation," he said.
Regarding the nomination strategy for the legislative election, Wang told reporters after the luncheon that participating lawmakers have agreed to team up with their PFP counterparts.
They also agreed to kick off a series of assemblies around the country as soon as possible to express their appreciation to their supporters during the presidential poll.
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