Ma unlikely to quit as KMT chief in the event of poll defeat

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou is likely to remain head of the ruling Kuomintang even if his party suffers a major setback in tomorrow's local elections.

Ma said these elections were different from polls in 2005.

'The strategy we adopted four years ago might not necessarily have the same effect this time,' he said.

In campaigning for KMT candidates in local elections in 2005, Ma vowed in his capacity as KMT chairman to step down if his party failed to get half of the 23 top local posts in the mayoral and magistrate polls.

Ma was able to keep his post as his party won 16 top local positions that year, but he was forced to step down in 2007 shortly after he was charged with embezzlement during his stint as Taipei mayor between 1998 and 2006. He was acquitted later that year.

Ma - elected KMT chairman again in July, more than a year after he took office as president - stressed yesterday that different strategies should be used in different elections to meet 'actual need'. He was referring to a new situation in which six of the 23 counties and cities would not hold elections, in line with their planned mergers. Under the new system, the KMT now holds 13 top local posts, mostly in the north and northeast, while the Democratic Progressive Party, the main opposition, holds the top posts in three southern counties.

Ma's statement suggested he would not repeat his pledge of four years ago despite claims by the DPP that Ma expected a big KMT electoral setback and would not dare to use that 'strategy' to solicit votes.