Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of failing to develop Hualien County while in power, as he stepped up the campaign for the party’s candidate in the Feb. 27 Hualien legislative by-election.
King condemned DPP candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) for defending former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during his eight years in office and asked her to define the developments that the former DPP government had brought to Hualien.
APOLOGY
“Hsiao owes Taiwanese an apology for defending Chen and saying so many good things about him in the past,” King said in Hualien while campaigning for KMT candidate Wang Ting-sheng (王廷升).
King said the KMT would not attack Hsiao for not being a Hualien native, but Hsiao should explain to the public how much she or the former DPP government had done for the county.
Hoping to grab all four seats in the legislative by-elections, the KMT will continue its campaign efforts during the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts tomorrow.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will visit Hsinchu County today and promote party unity by hosting a dinner banquet with party candidate Cheng Yong-tang (鄭永堂), Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) and Hsinchu County Speaker Chang Pi-ching (張碧琴), who left the party for an unsuccessful run for county commissioner in December.
Ma will visit Hsinchu County to campaign for Cheng again on Monday and will also tour Taoyuan and Hualien counties during the holidays as part of a last-minute campaign effort before the by-election, the KMT said.
VICTORY
Ma has instructed all members to resolve party splits and seek victories in all four counties to boost party momentum after it lost all three seats in the previous round of legislative by-elections last month.
King said the party would start the nomination process for December’s special municipality elections after the legislative by-election later this month. He said in an interview with TVBS on Wednesday night that the KMT would consider itself the victor in the year-end elections if it won three municipalities.
The special municipality elections will be held in Taipei City, Kaohsiung City, Taichung, Tainan and Taipei County.
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