Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/25
By: Claudia Liu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 25 (CNA) Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) will be required to get at least 30 percent support in a public opinion poll to become the Kuomintang’s presidential nominee in the 2016 election, a KMT official said Monday.

Hung became the only candidate to qualify for the party’s presidential primary on Monday after a screening committee said she received 35,210 valid endorsements from registered party members, well over the threshold of 15,000.

The only other candidate seeking to qualify for the presidential primary, former Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良), obtained only 5,234 valid signatures and did not meet the requirement, according to the committee.

Because Hung was the only individual to qualify for the primary, her fate will now be decided by a public opinion poll. Should Hung fall short of the required 30 percent support, the KMT could decide not to nominate her and draft another candidate.