Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Yesterday morning, Ma first went to Taipei County to promote Wu Yu-sheng (
Ma's last activity, which was originally reserved for independent candidate Lin Cheng-hsiu (
According to KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (
"Ma won't go for him. Running advertisements to attack partners violates the pan-blue's principles," Lin Fong-cheng said to ERA TV News.
As of press time, Ma had not reversed his decision.
Tu Chien-teh (
"Ma has his own judgment, because the voice of party members at basic levels had been passed on to him through local branches," Tu said.
Ma yesterday did his best to recommend KMT candidates, stressing his long political history associating with the party. Ma even played the role of a peacemaker, mediating quarrels among KMT candidates, including Pan Wei-kang (
When Ma carried out street campaign activities with KMT Spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元) in Neihu District yesterday afternoon, Ma called for the cooperation of all voters for the party.
"KMT supporters have to work together in the elections. We can't afford to miss any ballots," Ma said.
According to Ma's office, Ma has attended 230 campaign activities since September 10, when he began to assist pan-blue candidates. Among them, 165 events were for 70 KMT candidates throughout the nation, while 37 activities were for 25 PFP candidates. As for four candidates in the pan-blue political spectrum who are either independent or from other small parties, such as New Party, Ma only spared them about 5.6 percent of his time for 12 events.
Ma's assistants stressed yesterday that beginning mid-October, Ma has accepted all invitations from all pan-blue candidates but still put those from KMT and PFP on his top priority.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
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