Dr Tsai Ing-wen, presidential candidate of Taiwan's main opposition party, is wooing ethnic Hakka voters in her hometown and her party's power base in the south with the idea of forming a coalition government.
Despite opposition from both of her rivals - the incumbent Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou and the People First Party's James Soong Chu-yu - Tsai has continued to propose the coalition at rallies.
'We, the Democratic Progressive Pparty, started [Taiwan's] first party rotation in 2000 [when Chen Shui-Bian was elected president], but we failed to implement our idea of building a coalition government because Taiwan's resources were still controlled by the Kuomintang,' Tsai said last night at a rally in Kaohsiung attended by at least 100,000 people.
'Only when Taiwan's ... parties unify to create a truly peaceful and harmonious state can we attract more mainland tourists, as well as overseas investors.'
Ma openly rejected Tsai's coalition idea last week, and Soong yesterday also ruled out joining such a government.
'It is because we severely differ on so-called national-identity issues and also because she does not respect the constitution of the Republic of China,' Soong told a news conference in Taipei, referring to Taiwan's official name.
Ma said the coalition idea was an election gimmickm. But some voters in central and southern Taiwan said they like the idea.