The ruling Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu says he will work harder to gain more support for his campaign. He was speaking on Friday in response to recent remarks by Legislature President Wang Jin-pyng.
Wang, who is also from the KMT, said that Chu is only trailing his opponent – Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen – by about 500,000 votes.
In an interview with POP Radio on Friday, Chu said that there is still a big gap between him and Tsai. He said that many supporters are not very pleased with him. But he said that with a little more time, he can do better in the polls.
When asked if he was concerned about splitting the vote with the third candidate in the race – People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong – Chu said he has a lot of respect for Soong.
However Chu said there is a lack of trust when it comes to Soong, whose party broke away from the KMT during Soong's failed bid for the presidency in 2000.
The KMT has in the past relied on support from PFP legislators because the two parties have common interests. But with the PFP fielding its own presidential candidate this year, Chu said it will be difficult to get PFP legislators to support his own bid for the presidency.
“When it comes to the legislators, the competition between the two parties has been fierce," said Chu.
"It’s clear that the PFP candidate will not get elected, and that [the KMT] candidate has a better chance of getting elected. So what’s needed is some kind of mechanism. Maybe there needs to be a stronger foundation in the trust between the PFP and the KMT. So the communication between the two sides has been rather difficult.”
Meanwhile, the DPP’s presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen also responded on Friday to the legislature president’s poll estimates. She said there is a big difference between Wang’s figures and her campaign’s understanding of the current situation.