RUMOR MILLS:As the independent candidate readied his mayoral effort, New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu dismissed reports describing a KMT alliance for a 2016 presidential run
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Independent Taipei mayoral hopeful Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is scheduled to visit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei today for a discussion of campaign details after defeating rival contender DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) in a DPP primary on Friday, Ko’s campaign office said.
Meanwhile, New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said various reports published recently about his possible presidential bid and political moves were “all made up.”
Ko topped Yao in a public opinion poll that will help determine the pan-green camp’s candidate to challenge Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate and former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文) in the Taipei mayoral election in November.
While the DPP’s final decision on nominating its own candidate is not expected before the party’s Central Executive Committee meetings on Wednesday, the possibility of ignoring the poll results to nominate Yao is low, local media reports said.
That is why Ko is reportedly set to begin a negotiation process with the DPP about how the campaign is to proceed over the next five months, as it would be difficult for the party to publicly endorse and campaign for Ko.
The 54-year-old physician, who took a leave of absence from the National Taiwan University Hospital’s traumatology department to campaign, is scheduled to meet with DPP officials today in a closed-door meeting, Ko’s office said yesterday.
Responding to a media inquiry about funding, Ko said at a campaign stop in Changhua County yesterday that he planned to raise his funding from small donors rather than corporate ones.
“I have never run an election campaign before and have no idea what the cost would be, but I am going to use what I have,” said Ko, who has said that high campaign costs and the presence of large corporate donations from big business fuel “decadence” in Taiwanese politics.
Ko spokesperson Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) said the candidate’s office has raised more than NT$10 million (US$337,000) and that Ko would ask the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the People First Party for potential cooperation as well.
Lien yesterday played down his reported polling deficit against Ko, which according to several media outlets was as high as 15 percentage points, saying that the gap — if there was one — would serve as a warning and a reminder to his campaign to work harder.
Lien said during his visit to Chih-nan Temple in Taipei that “you don’t get elected as mayor simply from what you say.”
Media outlets reported that Chu would be giving up a re-election bid and entering the 2016 presidential election and that the trio of Chu, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) are going to establish an “alliance” for the “post-Ma era” after Ma leaves office in 2016.
“I’m not aware of any of those things, nor do I think they really happened,” Chu said, adding that his focus remains on doing his job well as the mayor of New Taipei City.