Recently, the Chinese Kuomintang Chairman Jiang Qichen often travels to Kaohsiung , trying his best to integrate the Kaohsiung blue camp and strive to keep the throne of Kaohsiung City Speaker.
It was not easy, Han Guoyu In 2018, he helped the Kuomintang regain the power of Kaohsiung that had been lost for more than 20 years, but was dismissed; even more unexpectedly, Kaohsiung City Speaker Xu Kunyuan also fell to his death on the night of June 6. The Kuomintang suddenly lost its leadership in both the city government and the parliament, and had to send people to participate in by-elections. The Kaohsiung mayoral by-election is scheduled to be held on August 15, and the Kuomintang has also introduced candidates and is sprinting with all its strength. As for the Kaohsiung City Speaker by-election, the blue and green are still in the air. The KMT has the advantage, and the Party Central Committee has determined the candidate. However, the Kaohsiung City Council caucus has split into two factions. The Blue team has hurt itself before they can fight, so that the battle for the Speaker has set up variables.
The day for the by-election has been determined. Blue and green each have their own plans.
The Kaohsiung mayoral by-election will be held on August 15. Blue, green and white all have nominated candidates, which has attracted much attention. And because Kaohsiung City Speaker Xu Kunyuan fell from a building and died that night after the "boycott of South Korea" was passed on June 6, Kaohsiung lost its mayor and speaker in one day. In addition to the mayor's by-election, the speaker's by-election has also become another important battlefield between blue and green. The PK between blue and green started on the day of the Speaker’s by-election. At present, the time for the Kaohsiung City Speaker by-election is still uncertain between the blue and green parties. The Democratic Progressive Party's Kaohsiung City Council caucus prefers to hold an extraordinary meeting on a certain date to conduct the speaker's by-election after the mayor's by-election on August 15 or after the third regular meeting on July 22. The Kuomintang caucus had proposed to hold it on July 8 or 13, hoping to handle it before the mayoral by-election. It finally decided to wait for the caucus to negotiate before sending it to the conference to discuss the by-election schedule. From the attitudes of the blue and green towards the speaker’s by-election, we can see that the DPP is “waiting for change” while the KMT is “proactive and enterprising”. This difference is mainly due to the fact that blue and green have their own calculations. Taiwanese current affairs commentator Niu Zexun said in an interview with a Herald reporter yesterday that the DPP-leaning speaker by-election was held after the mayor by-election to assess their chances of winning in the mayor by-election. The DPP can take advantage of the momentum to seize the speaker's seat and achieve full governance. The Kuomintang hopes that the speaker’s by-election will be held before the mayor’s by-election, mainly because the Blue Army has a high chance of winning the speaker. If it retains the speaker, it can give itself reassurance first, boost the morale within the party, and sprint for the mayor’s by-election.
Candidates There are noises in the blue and a melee in the green.
Regarding the candidates for the Kaohsiung City Speaker by-election, initially, there was an undercurrent within the Kuomintang. On June 16, the Kaohsiung City Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang invited 31 members of the Blue Camp to the party headquarters for a meeting and consultation, and finally selected senior member Zeng Liyan to participate in the speaker’s by-election. However, Zeng Liyan's qualification has aroused dissatisfaction among some members who supported Deputy Speaker Lu Shumei's "conversion". Currently, there is an integration crisis. Two KMT members, Wu Licheng and Chen Lina, even announced their withdrawal from the party caucus a few days ago. However, Wu Licheng, who belongs to the same "white faction" as Lu Shumei, said that although he supports Lu Shumei, he will still support the people promoted by the blue camp when it comes time to vote. Although the overall situation in the speaker election is favorable to the KMT, the KMT is still under pressure to lose. Recently, Kuomintang Secretary-General Li Qianlong made serious remarks, saying that if he failed to hold on to the Speakership, both he and Party Chairman Jiang Qichen would "walk away." Therefore, Jiang Qichen and senior party officials have frequently gone south recently, and even invited Wang Jinping, the spiritual leader of the "White Faction", to come forward to coordinate. The Democratic Progressive Party is still in a state of chaos. Originally, there was a fierce fight between members Huang Mingtai and Zheng Guangfeng. After coordination, they both withdrew from the election. Unexpectedly, registration was opened again, and three people, including Han Cicun, the general convenor of the party group, Zhang Shengfu, the former general convenor, and Chen Mingze, the Hunei district councilor, competed. The two heroes competed and became a tripartite. The DPP will coordinate again in the near future.
Members without party membership hold the "key votes"
The Kaohsiung City Speaker by-election will win. Although it does not receive as much attention as the Kaohsiung Mayor by-election, it is of great significance to both the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party. Due to the mayoral by-election, the Democratic Progressive Party has a high chance of winning. If it wins the speaker again, it will mean that the "green" hand is overwhelming in Kaohsiung. For the Kuomintang, Niu Zexun believes that if the Blue Army retains the speakership, it will have both symbolic and substantive significance. On the one hand, it can control the leadership of the parliament; on the other hand, if the Democratic Progressive Party is elected as the mayor, the Kuomintang can contain it.In addition, the Kuomintang can also use its momentum to narrow the gap with the Democratic Progressive Party in the mayoral by-election. The less it loses, the more it wins. For Jiang Qichen, he is also more able to secure his position as party chairman. Therefore, the Speaker by-election is crucial to both Jiang Qichen and the Kuomintang. Some even say that if he loses the speaker's by-election, it may become Jiang Qichen's "endgame." It is understood that Kaohsiung City Council currently has 65 seats. In terms of party membership, 31 are from the Kuomintang, 25 from the Democratic Progressive Party, 1 each from the Taiwan United Party and People First Party, 2 from the Force of the Times, and 5 without party membership. Looking at the operation of the party caucus, there are 32 people participating in the operation of the Kuomintang caucus; the Democratic Progressive Party has 25 seats, plus 1 seat from the "Taiwan Alliance Party" Wu Mingci, 1 seat from the pro-green independent lawmaker Fan Zhiqin, and 2 seats from the Times Force Huang Jie and Lin Yukai, for a total of 29 seats. In the Kaohsiung City Speaker by-election, whoever is blue or green will win with a majority of 34 votes. Therefore, it is curious who Wu Yizheng, a city councilor from the People's First Party who is participating in the mayoral by-election on behalf of the Taiwan People's Party, will vote for. In addition, the movements of the remaining three non-party members Zhu Xinqiang, Chen Shanhui and Li Shunjin, who have stated that they will "come in and come out together", will become very critical.
Straits Herald reporter Lin Lianjin
