PFP denies negotiating deal to withdraw its presidential candidate

The People First Party (PFP) said Sunday  there is no question of its chairman James Soong dropping his bid for  president in exchange for legislative seats for the party, as has been  reported. There have been no under-the-table negotiations between the  PFP and the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) on that issue, PFP spokesman Wu  Kun-yu said, responding to a China Times report that his party had  asked for a guarantee of 11 legislative seats in exchange for Soong's  withdrawal from the Jan. 14 presidential election. According to the  paper, the PFP has been negotiating the deal through Hualien County  Magistrate Fu Kun-chi. But Wu said Soong would not turn his back on  the PFP supporters who had endorsed his candidacy. Last week, Soong  delivered to the Central Election Commission the first batch of  355,589 signatures he had obtained in an endorsement campaign.  According to law, Soong had

(Full text of the story is now in CNA English news archive. To view the full story, you will need to be a subscribed member of the CNA archive. To subscribe, please read here.)