Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-29
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) Ker Chien-ming, a veteran lawmaker and a declared candidate for the presidency of Taiwan’s legislature, said Friday that he would support an ally of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen to become the next speaker.

It would be best if Su Jia-chyuan becomes the speaker of the new legislature so that Tsai will have strong parliamentary support, said Ker, who has been the Democratic Progressive Party’s top lawmaker for several years.

In the Jan. 16 elections, the DPP won a majority in the Legislative Yuan for the first time and until Su surfaced as a candidate last week, Ker had been expected to take over the speakership from Wang Jin-pyng of the Kuomintang party, who has held the job since 1999.

Su is a former minister of the interior and was Tsai’s running mate in her first bid for the presidency in 2012.