Taipei Times
Date: Sep 18, 2016
By: Jake Chung / Staff writer
Taking lessons from its landslide losses in the 2014 nine-in-one elections and this year’s presidential and legislative elections, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has started preparing for the 2018 elections with plans to foster 50 candidates in the hopes of retaking several districts, townships and cities, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
According to a report published yesterday by the Chinese-language United Daily News, the KMT’s plan, dubbed the “Wulin Project” (武林計畫) — a play on the Chinese pronunciation of the target number of candidates, wuling — will not place a limit on a candidate’s age, but will require all potential candidates to participate in a forum detailing the party’s ideals on its charter and city governance.
KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and KMT Central Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) have been active behind the scenes and have not ruled out directly providing resources to support young people to run in the elections, the report said.
Aside from the forum, young potential candidates will also have to accept the party’s arrangements on which electoral districts they would be running in, as well as participate in a “customized” training program, the report said, adding that the party seems to be targeting younger party members currently serving on city or county councils. [FULL STORY]