Taiwan’s opposition alliance at odds over presidential candidate

Shanghai, China, Nov 18 (EFE).- The two main Taiwan opposition parties have not yet reached an agreement on who will be their joint candidate for the presidential election in January 2024, for which they negotiating to form a united front against the ruling party.

It was expected that on Saturday morning it would finally be revealed who of the two presidential candidates – Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) or Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) – was going to lead the alliance.

According to the local press, the disagreement is rooted in discrepancies over the margin of error of polling surveys on which both parties agreed to base their final decision, since, based on its interpretation of the system, the KMT assures that their candidate leads while the TPP considers it a tie.

Both parties have decided to extend the negotiations until next Friday, Nov. 24, the deadline for the formal presentation of candidates for the election, which will be held on Jan. 13.

In a virtual press conference, Ko did not rule out including in the alliance another candidate, Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who is running as an independent after losing the KMT primaries and has a support base of 7-10 percent.

Meanwhile, the candidate of the ruling People’s Democratic Party and vice president, Lai Ching-te (William Lai), continues to lead the polls, with support remaining stable at around 30 percent. EFE

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