Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing’s (楊秋興) announcement that he will run as an independent has not shaken the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) confidence on its chances in the Greater Kaohsiung elections.
Releasing a poll yesterday, the DPP said the entry of the two-term commissioner in the race would actually take more than a third of pan-blue supporter’s votes from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
If the elections were held tomorrow, the DPP’s candidate, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), would win by a more than 30 percent margin, with 53.7 percent of the vote, against 22.6 percent for Yang and 15.3 percent for Huang.
While Huang would still obtain 38.5 percent support among pan-blue voters, Yang would follow a close second with 34.2 percent. On the other hand, the county commissioner would only receive 15.8 percent support from pan-green voters against 80.8 percent for Chen.
Hopes for an 11th-hour breakthrough were dashed after Chen’s campaign was unable to reach an agreement with Yang that would see him continue on with the party, despite the commissioner speaking with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Saturday, amid hopes of reconciliation.
Yang is the first prominent politician to defect from the opposition party since DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) became leader two years ago. The party is only starting to get back on its feet following a series of devastating electoral defeats in 2007 and 2008.
The move, along with concerns among DPP circles that it could also trigger a defection from Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), will undoubtedly cast questions on Tsai’s leadership as she leads the DPP into what is seen as a mid-term election before the 2012 presidential elections.
Fears that Hsu could also launch an independent bid have heightened in the past week after a number of sources close to him were reportedly caught saying that he would make an announcement on Sunday.
Speaking yesterday, Hsu spoke highly of Yang and criticized both the DPP primaries and the party’s Greater Tainan candidate, William Lai (賴清德). However, he did not confirm the reports that he would also run outside of the party.
Tsai also left Hsu’s future moves to the imagination yesterday, saying that while the DPP was staying on top of new developments in Tainan, it did not want to “talk too much about it to avoid impacting the negotiations.”
Possible intervention by the KMT has been cited by the DPP as a reason behind Yang’s decision. DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said they had received reports that KMT politicians in the area had been working to create a split between Yang and Chen.
“It was made clear early on that the KMT has been attempting to influence the DPP party primaries,” Lin said.
The comments have led to speculation that the KMT could give up its own candidate to elect Yang, remarks that KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) denied yesterday.
Speaking on the split, King said the opposition should avoid blaming its own “household problems” on the KMT and that he would take personal responsibility if the DPP could prove the allegations.
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