Four members of the outgoing ruling party – the Kuomintang (KMT) -- are set to register their candidacy on Monday for the party's chairperson by-election. The four are acting Kuomintang Chairperson Huang Min-hui, Legislator Chen Shei-saint, former Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu, and Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin.
So far, Huang and Hung are estimated to have each collected more than 60,000 signatures from KMT members. Candidates are required to obtain at least 9,600 signatures to be eligible to run.
The KMT will elect a new leader on March 26 to replace Eric Chu. Chu resigned as chairman to take responsibility for the party's defeat in both the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 16.
Although the term of the next KMT chairman will last for less than 18 months, the by-election has attracted a lot of attention. That’s because the party's next leader will be crucial to instituting reforms within the party over the next year and a half.