The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will officially announce its five mayoral candidates for the year-end elections today, following Sunday’s announcement that Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would run in Sinbei City.
In a media briefing yesterday, Tsai, who was re-elected for a second term as chairperson on Sunday, said the finalized list would “help the party receive the best election result and show that the DPP is once again on the rise.”
All five candidates are expected to appear today at DPP headquarters in Taipei City after the Central Executive Committee confirms the nomination list in the afternoon.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The 53-year-old Tsai broke her silence on Sunday, confirming widespread speculation of her intention to run in Sinbei City, where she will be up against Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, former vice premier Eric Chu (朱立倫).
She said her decision came “not out of personal consideration, but took into account the DPP and the country’s future targets and goals.”
Party insiders said Tsai reached the decision after a late-night meeting with DPP officials on Sunday, where she took her convincing win in the chairperson election as a sign of voter recognition of her leadership.
“The election results accelerated this decision. We needed to be sure that party members were behind where I am taking the party before we could decide to take on the [Sinbei City] elections,” Tsai said.
Chu yesterday welcomed Tsai’s participation, but raised questions on whether she would serve out the full four-year term or use the position as a springboard for a potential presidential bid in 2012 if elected.
Dismissing such concerns, Tsai said that if voters gave her a chance, she would take “full responsibility to the very end,” adding that DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) would do the same if elected in Greater Taichung.
Party officials later said this was an issue that Chu himself would have to address, having quit his post as Taoyuan County commissioner prematurely when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) appointed him vice premier last year.
Despite previous posts in the central government as vice premier and Council of Mainland Affairs chief under former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), this will be Tsai’s first run for public office.
A number of opinion polls released last week showed that Tsai would likely face a tough battle in Sinbei City, where Chu is highly rated, despite the low popularity of KMT Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋).
However, Tsai expressed confidence in her chances for November, saying the DPP still enjoyed widespread grassroots support from Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) reign as Taipei County commissioner from 1997 to 2004.
On her election platform, she said that as the nation’s most-populous city, Sinbei would be the perfect platform to carry out the DPP’s “10 year political master plan,” which includes policies dealing with the environment, social issues and the economy.
Her participation in Sinbei City is widely expected to aid the DPP’s overall showing in the year-end elections.
Tsai said the party would aim for a perfect showing in the elections, which mark Taiwan’s first vote for five special municipalities after Taipei County, Taichung city and county, Tainan city and county, along with Kaohsiung city and county merge and upgrade on Dec. 25.
Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said she was not surprised Tsai had decided to run for Sinbei mayor, but added that Tsai’s opponent would pressure her to commit to a four-year term should she win.
Lu said that while it was widely known that Tsai would run, she felt regret that it had taken her so long to make the announcement.
Lu also cast doubt on Tsai’s efforts to reform the party, saying voters would judge in November’s polls whether the manner in which the party selected the candidates for the five special municipalities was the right thing to do.
Besides, Lu said, it remained to be seen whether Tsai’s victory symbolized success in party reform.
While Chu has vowed to finish the four-year term if elected, he has asked Tsai to make the same commitment. Lu yesterday said it was a question that Tsai and other party candidates must answer as their opponents will continue to ask.
Lu also expressed regret that some of the DPP and KMT candidates for the five elections were not locals. She said that while she did not know whether such a decision was good for the parties, she would have liked to see less political calculation and more focus on serving the people.
Lu criticized the KMT administration for failing to map out a well-thought-out plan before it rushed into merging and upgrading the status of the five special municipalities. She urged the candidates of the two parties to propose remedies for the problem and believed the party that presented the best solution would win the elections.
Lu made the remarks during a question-and-answer session at a press conference she called to launch her blog yesterday morning.
In response to Tsai’s announcement, KMT legislators accused her of planning to use the Sinbei mayoralty as a springboard for the presidential election.
KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) said Tsai’s decision to run in the mayoral race was an “insult” to residents of the to-be-created Sinbei City because Tsai might only plan to stay there temporarily.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) urged Tsai to promise not to join the presidential race.
“If she refuses, that means she is simply trying to deceive voters in Sinbei City,” Wu said.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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