The party will not organize debates and exclude smartphone users from opinion polls
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Kuomintang (KMT) announced Wednesday (May 15) it will
KMT spokesman Ouyang Long. (By Central News Agency)
use opinion polls without smartphones to select its presidential candidate by July 16 at the latest.
The contenders will not have to engage in televised debates with each other, but will be able to offer their views to the public separately, the Central News Agency reported.
Despite demands by some candidates, the party’s Central Standing Committee decided Wednesday that the nominee for the January 11, 2020 presidential election would be selected by opinion polls only, with no separate vote by party members.
Five polling organizations will be asked to conduct the surveys for at least 3,000 valid responses each, but they will only use landlines to reach respondents, and not smartphones. The issue has recently divided the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) pushing for the inclusion of cellphones, while ex-Premier William Lai (賴清德) has opposed changing the rules while the race is already underway. [FULL STORY]
