TAIPEI RACE:An article claimed that Su Tseng-chang may be forced to run because his choice to represent the party is lagging behind Annette Lu in public polls
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday denied reports that he was planning to join the Taipei mayoral race next year and was trying to persuade former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to drop her bid to represent the party in the election.
The remarks came in response to a column posted by political commentator Wu Tsu-chia (吳子嘉) on the my-formosa.com online news Web site yesterday which alleged that Su had decided to enter the election and had sent DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) to dissuade Lu from running in the party’s primary.
Wu said that while Su would like lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to represent the party in the Taipei mayoral race, Lu has been leading Koo in the polls, forcing Su to enter the race himself.
Having Lu and former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫?) as candidates in the mayoral elections in Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市) respectively could derail Su’s campaign for re-election as party chairman in May next year, Wu added.
However, Koo and Lu are not the only aspirants Su has to worry about, as a majority of public opinion polls show that Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), director of National Taiwan University’s department of traumatology who is planning to run as an independent, has been leading all the pan-green camp aspirants.
Some pro-independence supporters have urged the DPP to include Ko in its party primary, so that the pan-green camp can have the best candidate run against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) representative.
Lu has rejected the idea, saying Ko cannot be included because he is not a DPP member.
Ko yesterday said he agreed that the pan-green camp should settle on one candidate to have a better chance at winning.
If the DPP refuses to include him in the primary process, his support rate will likely be the deciding factor for his campaign, Ko said.
“If my support rate is not good enough to beat other aspirants, I would consider dropping out of the race,” Ko said.