By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said she would “begin weighing a decision” on participating in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) primary for next year’s Taipei mayoral election, but has not made a decision yet.
Lu spoke about the primary for the first time during a Taipei luncheon with the “Friends of A-bian,” a group of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) supporters, after her office denied media reports that Lu was planning to run in the primary.
“I will begin with an evaluation now,” she told reporters after the luncheon, which was held to support Lu’s possible candidacy.
Before the luncheon, Lu said the likelihood of her candidacy was “something like 10 percent.”
While Taipei has traditionally been a weak constituency for the DPP, there were many talented politicians in the party who are capable of running, she said.
“However, anyone who eventually entered the race should be ready to win and not have the mentality that ‘a close loss is a win,’” she said.
Since last month, several media outlets have reported that Lu plans to run in the primary and said she could make an official announcement tomorrow.
Lu’s office has denied both claims.
She said she never thought about running until Chen, who is serving a 20-year prison term for corruption, floated the idea and asked her to “get ready.”
Taipei City Councilor Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), a member of the Friends of A-bian, said the group unanimously decided to support Lu in the election and urged the DPP to finalize its nomination as soon as possible.
Former Tainan mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) is the only declared candidate for the DPP primary so far.
However, National Taiwan University physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been named by many DPP supporters as their favorite, even though he is not a member of the party. There have been calls for the DPP to recruit Ko to be its candidate.
Ko has talked about entering the race and appeared to be gearing up for the election by establishing an office, but the self-proclaimed “deep-green Taiwan independence supporter” has not made a final decision.