Presidential race shaken up by Su's mayoral bid

Former Taiwanese premier Su Tseng-chang's announcement that he plans to run in Taipei's mayoral election at the end of the year has been seen as a smart opening gambit for the 2012 presidential election.

Analysts said that while Su had emerged as a big threat to the ruling Kuomintang in terms of both the mayoral and presidential polls, he had also left other heavyweights in the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party pondering their next move.

Ignoring a plan by DPP chairwoman Dr Tsai Ing-wen to field him as the party's mayoral candidate in the city of Xinbei - a special municipality formed by upgrading Taipei county - Su declared on Wednesday he would run for Taipei mayor. He said he had been Taipei county magistrate for two terms and felt it was time to run in the island's capital, a KMT stronghold.

Su vowed in front of a Taipei temple that he would serve out his four-year term if elected mayor and stay clear of the 2012 presidential campaign. But he also said he was willing to 'make even greater contributions to the county to return its generous support', in a veiled reference to a possible presidential bid.

Su's announcement would turn the Taipei mayoral poll into a showdown between the 62-year-old DPP politician and his KMT opponent, incumbent Mayor Hau Lung-bin, and threaten the KMT's grip on the capital, analysts said.

Chen Chao-chien, an assistant professor of public affairs at Ming Chuan University, said even though support for the KMT in Taipei regularly hit more than 60 per cent, 'there is a chance Su might win'.

Voters' disappointment in Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's government and some defective construction projects in the city - including a new section of subway and a suburban cable-car system, both started by Ma when he was mayor - had eroded Hau's popularity since his election in 2006, Chen said.