Two candidates have registered to run in the Kuomintang presidential primary. They are Legislature Vice President Hung Hsiu-chu and former health minister Yang Chih-liang. Since the party’s most prominent politicians have not registered, there are speculations the KMT may draft a candidate instead of going through the official nomination process.
KMT Secretary-General Lee Shih-chuan said the party is not considering drafting a candidate at this stage:
"Regarding the primary nomination process, there are two candidates who have completed the registration and gathering of signatures," said Lee.
"So we will go through this system. If they have enough signatures, we will use our primary process to nominate the candidate. We will definitely nominate that candidate."
To be qualified, candidates must have a petition signed by at least 15,000 party members. They must also gain at least 30 percent support in a combination of opinion polls and votes by party members.
The two candidates’ petitions have been sent to the party’s headquarters to be verified, and the verification should be done within 5 days.