By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), who was stripped of his position as a Greater Kaohsiung councilor after being found guilty of perjury, yesterday said he remained undecided on whether to run in the legislative elections in January next year.
“I am still listening to the opinions of voters in my constituency and evaluating all possible options,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a fundraising banquet organized by the Taiwan Hakka Society.
“I will not let down those who voted for me,” Chen Chih-chung said.
Chen Chih-chung lost his job as an independent Greater Kaohsiung councilor after the Supreme Court sentenced him to three months in jail last week for perjury in a case related to his father’s state affairs fund case.
Since the verdict, there has been speculation that Chen Chih-chung — or his wife Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) — might decide to run in the legislative election in either Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung or Greater Taichung, where Huang grew up.
If that happens, their participation in the legislative race could have an impact on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has nominated candidates in those districts.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said that her party is unlikely to recruit Chen Chih-chung, who has withdrawn from the DPP, as a candidate because the nomination process has been completed.
Chen Chih-chung has said he will not run in Greater Tainan’s fifth district, where former Tainan County commissioner Mark Chen (陳唐山) has been nominated as the DPP candidate, but did not elaborate on whether he would run in a different district.
The ultimate goal for the green camp is for the DPP’s candidate to win the presidential election and become the majority party in the legislature, DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.