Taiwan’s new Kuomintang leader Eric Chu has one year to prove himself, say analysts

The 60-year-old former vice-premier and mayor beat his top opponent Chang Ya-chung last Saturday

Chu will need to canvass support for four referendums, including a vote on whether Taiwan should allow the import of ractopamine-laden US pork

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Eric Chu Li-luan speaks to the media after winning the chairmanship election of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang party on September 25. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via dpa

Published: 4:00pm, 2 Oct 2021Updated: 9:01pm, 2 Oct 2021

Taiwan’s new Kuomintang (KMT) leader Eric Chu Li-luan will have just one year to prove whether he has the ability to help steer the main opposition party back to power in 2024, analysts said.

The 60-year-old former vice-premier and mayor beat his top opponent Chang Ya-chung, 66, a mainland-centric ideologist, by bagging more than or 45.8 per cent of the votes, 85,160, to win the KMT’s leadership in a four-way race last Saturday.

Outgoing chairman Johnny Chiang, 49, failed to get re-elected with some 18.9 per cent of the votes, while former Changhua magistrate Cho Po-yuan, 56, finished fourth with just or 2.8 per cent of the votes.

Chu is expected to assume office on Tuesday. But he will have no time for a honeymoon, as he must immediately take over from his predecessor the task of rallying public support for a motion initiated by the party to remove a member of the pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party from the legislature.

Candidate Chang Ya-chung casts his vote during the Kuomintang chairmanship election in Taipei on September 25. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chen Po-wei of the small party, which sides with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, faces a recall vote scheduled on October 23 over what the KMT claimed as failure to live up with his campaign promises and ignoring the appeals of voters in his constituency for a ban on US pork imports containing livestock drug ractopamine.