By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
A public opinion poll on four Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) contenders in the Taipei mayoral election is to be held on Tuesday as the first stage of the party’s primary, before the winner moves on to the second stage to compete with independent aspirants for the final nomination, the DPP said yesterday.
The results of the survey are expected to be announced on Wednesday, to determine the winner among former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and a pair of lawmakers — Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) and Pasuya Yao (姚文智) — party spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said after a meeting between the four campaigns yesterday.
“The poll will pit each contestant against Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), the former Taipei EasyCard Co chairman,” Lin said.
Whoever wins the poll would then compete with National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who enjoys the highest support rate among the pan-green camp aspirants by far, and screenwriter Neil Peng (馮光遠), in the final stage of a two-stage mechanism especially designed for the Taipei mayoral election in November so that the final candidate will have a better chance at winning.
The spokesperson said the final candidate is expected to be determined by the middle of next month.
Meanwhile, a televised debate for the DPP chairmanship election between former party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former Kaohsiung County deputy commissioner Kuo Tai-lin (郭泰麟) is scheduled to take place on May 18.
ERA TV is to broadcast the only debate being held for the election live, Lin said.
Tsai, who served as DPP chairperson from 2008 to 2012, is heavily favored to win the election, which is to be held on May 25, after incumbent chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) both dropped out of the race.