News
KMT and TPP reach consensus
The blue (Kuomintang, KMT) and white (Taiwan People’s Party, TPP) party negotiations have taken place with a consensus finally reached after monthlong deadlock.
Although details are scarce right now, the KMT and the TPP have agreed that experts on both sides will take a close look at the poll numbers already publicized by various polling firms between 7 and 17 November. They will analyse those numbers and also the results of polls done by one polling company chosen by the two parties.
The foundation of former President Ma Ying-jeou will announce whether it's a Hou-Ko or a Ko-Hou ticket Saturday morning, 18 November.
Ma, who served as a witness at the meeting, has touted today's negotiations among KMT Chair Eric Zhu, presidential candidates Ko Wen-je and Hou You-yi, of the TPP and the KMT respectively, as a milestone in Taiwan's democratic history, and Hou has expressed optimism about the result.
Although a huge crowd of reporters were waiting outside Ma's office, the four of them only gave a very brief talk after the meeting, and the press conference ended shortly afterwards with none of them answering any questions.
In other election news, Terry Guo has officially qualified for January's presidential election after the Central Election Commission validated the independent candidate's petition.
The commission verified that Guo and his running mate, Tammy Lai submitted a total of 1,038,031 signatures, of which 87% were valid. The election commission says Guo's campaign will get a certificate certifying that it passed the signature threshold and will have a NT$1 million deposit returned. Guo and Lai needed at least 289,667 signatures, or 1.5% of all eligible voters in the 2020 presidential election, to get on the ballot.
A total of ten petition campaigns registered with the election commission, other than Guo and Lai's - none passed the petition threshold. The nine unsuccessful registered campaigns has forfeited their NT$1 million deposits after failing to garner half the required number of endorsements.
