KMT defection raises poll woes

A DEFECTION by a senior leader of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and intra-party woes threaten to damage the party's prospects in critical mayor elections tomorrow.

Voters will go to the polls tomorrow to decide who will run the administrations of 21 counties and cities in Taiwan.

A total of 77 candidates will compete in the election. At present, the KMT holds 13 mayorships. The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) controls seven, plus one city run by a pro-DPP independent.

Further erosion could harm the KMT's hopes in next year's elections for Taiwan provincial governor and the mayors of giant Taipei and Kaohsiung municipalities.

The hopes of the KMT to hold the line - and perhaps recover one or two DPP-run districts - were lifted in early November by the unprecedented cross-island campaigning by Taiwan President and KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui.

But the impact of the ''Lee Teng-hui whirlwind'' may be reduced by Wednesday's announcement that General Hsu Li-nung, 72, a member of the KMT central standing committee, was joining the fledgling Chinese New Party (CNP).

Yesterday, the CNP claimed that they would win at least two mayorships in the election.

CNP Chairman Jaw Shau-kong yesterday said he was confident that his party, which spun off from the ruling KMT just three months ago, was ready to challenge the KMT and DPP.

A KMT spokesman yesterday blasted the CNP for helping the DPP secure more control in local administration.

''A vote for the New Party is like a boost for the DPP. It will [eventually] hurt this country and entice the pro-independence movement. It will aggravate the possibility of an invasion by the Chinese Communist,'' the spokesman said.

A DPP foreign affairs spokesman said there was no need to stress their pro-independence stance in the election because it was already ''well-known''.

She claimed that they could win over half of the 21 mayorships in tomorrow's polls and said the defection of General Hsu would destabilise, and draw votes away from, the KMT.

General Hsu was the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen chairman from 1987 to March this year.

The commission, and its ''Huang Fu-hsing'' KMT party branch, reputedly influence several hundred thousand ''iron votes'' for the KMT.

These voters are concentrated in Taipei County, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu City, and Tainan City - districts in which the ruling party faces tight battles.

The most serious damage is expected in Taipei County, President Lee's hometown, which is now run by DPP incumbent You Ching.

Factional differences in the KMT camp are re-emerging in several counties, just as DPP leaders are moving to resolve their own internal disputes.

The wide powers wielded by mayors make the posts the focus for intense contention among local political and financial interests.