Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) would communicate with New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, about forming a cross-party consultative committee before Thursday, Ko’s office said.
The committee proposal is aimed to help the two parties discuss how to allocate government posts if they win the presidential election against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Ko’s spokesperson Vicky Chen (陳智菡) said.
Chen said Ko would talk to Hou and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) about the planned consultative committee before Thursday to form a cross-party stance.
Photo: CNA
Chen did not mention if Ko, Hou and Chu would meet in person.
STALEMATE
The TPP and the KMT have remained deadlocked over the formation of a joint ticket, despite recent polls showing that a failure to form one could hand an almost certain victory to Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the DPP candidate, in the Jan. 13 presidential election.
Photo: CNA
An initial meeting on Oct. 14 failed to produce a consensus, and the two parties have not reached an agreement on whether to adopt polling or a primary election to decide their candidate.
Chen said the proposed cross-party consultative committee would aim to ease concerns among KMT members that the TPP would take the entire government for itself, if the opposition camp wins the presidential election.
The TPP would not demand legislative seats as a concession in talks on a joint opposition bid for president, she said.
Ko had expressed a willingness to campaign on behalf of KMT legislative candidates, without clarifying whether he would do that in constituencies where the TPP was running, she said.
However, further talks are unlikely to be arranged after Thursday if the KMT and Hou continue to insist on a primary instead of polling to select a presidential candidate, Chen added.
The TPP suggested that polls also include independent candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘), the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, who is attempting to make the presidential ballot via an ongoing petition drive.
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