There are forces at work trying to block efforts by People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to collect enough signatures on a petition to take part in the presidential election, Soong said recently.
PFP personnel said Soong’s campaign efforts are being blocked by government officials, while military and educational personnel, as well civil servants, were being encouraged not to help with petition collection work.
Even veterans are being closely watched by local Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chapters, a PFP source said, citing the example of unknown persons taking away petition letters in a veterans’ village in the Banciao District (板橋) of New Taipei City (新北市).
Photo: CNA
Investigations into the incident turned up nothing, PFP spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) said on Saturday, adding that they would improve security to prevent anything similar happening again.
Wu said that a slanderous letter titled “A public message to Mr James Soong” had been mailed to homes in Taoyuan County on Sept. 27, with similar missive also appearing in Nantou County, New Taipei City and Hsinchu City.
As Soong is still collecting signatures for his presidential bid and has yet to officially enter the race, the PFP is unable to take legal action against those they allege are attempting to undermine a candidate’s chances in an election, Wu said.
A lawyer has been consulted to determine whether the party had grounds to sue for actions designed to force a potential candidates to withdraw from the presidential election, Wu added, but the lawyer said there was no such crime.
As for claims that government officials were impeding petition collection, Wu said he had heard that Miaoli County government ordered all civil servants not to help with the petition effort, adding that it was a verbal order rather than a written directive.
Other PFP sources said that a certain township representative had informed them township chiefs had been told not to help Soong if they valued their government subsidies. As a result only more high profile officials such as Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), former Miaoli County commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬), retired county commissioners, provincial councilors and corporations were willing to help with collect signatures for Soong, Wu said.
An 80 year-old retired major who helped the PFP in Taoyuan County’s Bade township (八德) was visited six times by KMT personnel, ranging from a section chief to the county party headquarters’ deputy chairman, a PFP source said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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