Former vice premier Chen Chi-mai’s (陳其邁) landslide victory on Saturday in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election shows troubled waters lie ahead for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate won 671,804 votes, or 70.03 percent of the total, while KMT Kaohsiung City Councilor Jane Lee (李眉蓁) received 248,478 votes (25.90 percent) and Kaohsiung City Councilor Wu Yi-jheng (吳益政) of the Taiwan People’s Party got 38,960 votes (4.06 percent).
Chiang, who has less than a year left in his term as party chairman, has said before that the KMT had missed its chance to train talented people when the party had a hold on Kaohsiung, but was left with no good candidates ahead of the by-election.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
Hours after the KMT announced Lee would be its by-election candidate on June 23, Chiang wrote on Facebook that the KMT should “not think about winning, but rather should think about not losing.”
While trying to appear like a commander deploying an army into battle, Chiang’s post suggested the KMT had already accepted the by-election would be a losing battle before it even began.
Within the KMT, the by-election was seen largely as an extension of the Jan. 11 presidential poll — so it is hard not to pass the buck for the loss to Chiang’s predecessor, former vice president and Kaohsiung mayor Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
When then-Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) lost a recall election on June 6, Chiang’s supporters were already up in arms in a battle to protect the lawmaker’s leadership position.
Political watchers think former KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) is interested in regaining the party’s top seat, with an eye on the 2024 presidential election, while Han’s camp has said that he also hopes to run for party chairman next year.
In the wake of its major defeat in the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, the KMT is now focused on reforms, issues related to constitutional amendments under discussion at the Legislative Yuan, and its role as an opposition party supervising President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government.
These will be important areas for anyone aspiring to the chairperonship to demonstrate their political strength.
Recently, the party’s Kaohsiung city councilors have lambasted Chiang and KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) for sticking with Lee after a scandal erupted over allegations that she had plagiarized large portions of her master’s degree thesis.
Some traveled to Taipei to voice their complaints in person at KMT headquarters; their criticism was echoed by some party members in Taipei and New Taipei City, who also expressed doubts about Chiang’s leadership abilities.
As a result, a number of party members who oppose Chiang now support the idea of Chu challenging for the leadership, reportedly including former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who lost the last chairperson election to Chiang.
Some observers see Chiang’s situation akin to that faced by former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who also led the KMT just after a presidential election defeat, and who faced an internal power struggle.
Chiang must solidify his internal support before the end of the year, or he could become a lame duck if KMT members begin to see his chances of being re-elected are slim.
Translated by staff writer William Hetherington
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