EXPERIENCE:Attention has been focused on Annette Lu’s age since she expressed an interest in running in the DPP’s primary for its Taipei mayoral candidate
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Age is not an issue in next year’s Taipei mayoral election because experience comes with age, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who is eyeing the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) nomination in the election, said in an interview yesterday.
“Former US president Ronald Reagan, the oldest man elected as [US] president at 69 years old in 1981, has been one of the most popular US presidents, while the incumbent [US President] Barack Obama has not performed exceptionally well,” Lu, 69, said during a radio interview.
Public attention has been focused on Lu’s age since she expressed an interest in running in the DPP’s primary for the Taipei mayoral race.
Lu joins DPP Legislator Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), a non-DPP member, on a crowded aspirant list, with Taipei City Councilor Chou Po-ya (周柏雅) rumored to be interested in entering the race as well.
The former vice president denied that she has been trying to edge out Ko, who is known for his support of Taiwan independence and is leading most public opinion surveys among pan-green camp aspirants.
Lu said that Ko is entitled to run as an independent, but should not be included in the DPP primary process as a non-member.
According to the DPP’s nomination regulations for the mayoral and commissioner elections next year, if all negotiation attempts fail to produce a single candidate, the nomination will be decided by a public opinion poll organized by the party headquarters.
Ko is still weighing whether he should join the DPP.