The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday denied it had decided to support National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) bid in the Taipei mayoral election as an independent in November and that it would not nominate its own candidate.
Storm Media, an online news Web site, reported yesterday that the DPP had decided it would not nominate its own candidate in the Taipei election to boost Ko’s chance of winning after the aspirant’s meeting with DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) during the Lunar New Year holidays.
The media outlet also reported that the now-defunct New Tide faction, one of the most powerful factions in the party, has switched its allegiance to Ko and dropped its support of lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄), one of five DPP aspirants.
Former DPP lawmakers Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠), both New Tide members, had accompanied Ko on a visit to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweight on Jan. 28 for talks on inter-party support, according to the report.
DPP spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) denied that Su had met Ko during the holidays. Cheng denied that he had accompanied Ko on the reported visit and said former New Tide members had not thrown their support behind any aspirant in the Taipei mayoral election.
Ko said on the sidelines of the Taipei International Book Exhibition yesterday that his itinerary was “confidential” and he would not share it with the public, and that the reported endorsement by the New Tide faction “is also something that I would keep to myself.”
Ko, whose support rating is ahead of that of Koo and the other DPP aspirants — former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Taipei City Council Deputy Speaker Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) and DPP lawmakers Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) and Pasuya Yao (姚文智) — has been campaigning hard to run as a “pan-green candidate” without having to obtain DPP membership, a proposal that most DPP aspirants oppose.
After previously stressing his preference for “letting the nomination process run its course,” Ko appeared to have changed his position yesterday, saying that settling the nomination by the end of next month would be a better idea so that “current disputes over the issue would not go on forever.”
In response to the report, Koo said he was not aware of the reported decision and that he did not sense the loss of the New Tide faction’s support.
“What the DPP must do is lay out the rules of the game as soon as possible so that anxiety among DPP aspirants like me can be relieved,” Koo said yesterday, adding that his support rating has surpassed Lu’s and made him the leader among the five DPP aspirants.
Koo said he hoped the DPP could finalize the primary format at a Central Executive Committee meeting on Feb. 15.
He said he would accept either format for the primary if it was formally adopted by the DPP, referring to the so-called “one-phase” and “two-phase” formats, with the former including Ko in the party’s public opinion poll and the latter matching the winner of five DPP aspirants with Ko for a second poll to determine the final candidate.
However, Ko is likely not to be the only independent in the running, as award-winning writer Neil Peng (馮光遠) is also likely to enter the race, Koo said.
“If the DPP includes Ko in the public opinion poll, how would the party deal with Peng?” Koo asked.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that the most important task for the DPP would be “breaking the KMT’s monopoly on the Taipei mayorship,” which is why garnering maximum momentum among the opposition is crucial.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
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Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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