Taiwan’s two main opposition parties to discuss joint ticket for presidential election

Name: Foxconn founder Terry Guo picks Netflix actress Tammy Lai as running mate in Taiwan presidential bid
Uploaded: 2023-10-13T06:00:17.000Z
Duration: 3 min 6 s
Description: Foxconn founder Terry Guo picks Netflix actress Tammy Lai as running mate in Taiwan presidential bid

A joint ticket for Taiwan’s presidential election could be the only way the KMT and TPP can beat DPP front-runner William Lai Ching-te

But the two parties coming to an agreement over who would be the presidential candidate could prove impossible, analysts say

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Analysts have said any joint ticket between the TPP and the KMT could rest on whether TPP leader Ko Wen-je is happy with the result of the talks between the two parties. Photo: Bloomberg

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 2:00pm, 13 Oct 2023Updated: 5:33pm, 13 Oct 2023

With the presidential election less than 100 days away, Taiwan’s two opposition parties are considering a joint ticket, as none of their candidates are able to single-handedly take on front-runner William Lai Ching-te.

But differences over a host of issues – including who would be the presidential candidate and who would be the running mate in the January election – are already testing the potential partnership.

Lai, who is Taiwan’s current Vice-President and presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has maintained a firm lead ahead of his two opposition opponents, New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih of the mainland-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), and Ko Wen-je, head of the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).

Various opinion polls show the two opposition candidates trailing Lai by at least 6 to 15 percentage points. Only through cooperating with each other would they have a chance of beating the DPP candidate.

After floating the idea of a collaboration for months, on Thursday a decision was finally reached that the two parties would hold their first meeting to discuss how the ticket should be formed.

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Foxconn founder Terry Guo picks Netflix actress Tammy Lai as running mate in Taiwan presidential bid

“Our two sides have agreed to hold a meeting on Saturday at 2.30pm,” Lee Li-chen, a spokeswoman for Hou’s campaign office, said, adding news conferences would be held before and after the talks, scheduled to end at 5.30pm.