《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 2018 elections crucial to KMT’s survial, Hau says

By Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌） yesterday said the party needs to win leadership in at least two of the six special municipalities in next year’s elections to counter the Democratic Progressive Party’s （DPP） political monopoly.

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Hau, who served two terms as Taipei mayor and is now a candidate in the KMT’s May 20 election for chairperson, posted on Facebook that next year’s local polls would be key to determining if the KMT could regain its footing.

“The elections would be a key first step. Only by increasing its local-level influence can the KMT keep the DPP’s monopoly in check,” Hau said.

The KMT must accomplish three things in next year’s races: increase the number of cities and counties it controls, secure victory in at least two out of the six special municipalities, and ensure an increase in its total votes nationwide from the 2014 nine-in-one elections, he said.

If the KMT fails to achieve these goals, its path would only become more tumultuous, Hau said.

Next year’s elections would see voters choose the mayors and city councilors in the special municipalities; mayors and councilors in other cities; Aboriginal district representatives and councilors; county commissioners and councilors; township mayors and councilors; and borough and village wardens.

In the 2014 elections, the KMT won just one special municipality — New Taipei City — and five cities and counties.

Hau said candidates for next year’s elections should be “refreshing” and able to improve the KMT’s image in voters’ eyes, and he named several “rising stars,” including current legislators.

At a seperate event, former KMT vice chairman Steve Chan （詹啟賢）, another KMT chair candidate, yesterday said that the KMT is suffering from multiple organ failure and cannot just be treated with a dose of medicine.

“If you say the KMT’s problems can be solved with a simple prescription, you’ll win a bet on me,” the former hospital administrator and bio-tech company chairman said. “It’s impossible to treat the problem without a complete overhaul because the party is suffering multiple organ failure.”

The KMT must adopt a new ideology and way of doing things, and such an approach can best be achieved by someone like himself, who has no “no party baggage,” he said.

Of the six contenders for the KMT’s chair, he is the only one who was not groomed by the party, Chan said.

Additional reporting by CNA

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES