Hardliner at helm of Taiwan’s new party says it won’t field presidential candidate
- Pastor Terence Lo elected as chairman of Formosa Alliance, which was officially unveiled on Saturday
- It plans to run for at least 10 seats in parliament in January’s elections
Radical pro-independence activists have elected a Taiwan-centric pastor as chairman of the island’s new political party, in a move certain to split the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Terence Lo, a hardliner from the green camp and pastor with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, vowed that the Formosa Alliance, officially unveiled on Saturday, would not be absent in January’s legislative polls.
But the party has decided against fielding a presidential candidate in the 2020 race – to be run alongside the legislative elections – sparing President Tsai Ing-wen from a possible split in the pro-independence vote.
“We have decided not to put forward our own candidate this time to challenge President Tsai in the presidential election,” Lo said.
He added that the decision was taken to prevent the mainland-friendly opposition Kuomintang from capitalising on a potential split vote if the new party nominated a rival candidate against Tsai.
