Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) All four of the Kuomintang (KMT) members who have registered candidacies for the party's chairperson by-election are qualified to run in the race after they successfully collected over 9,600 valid endorsement signatures from party members, the KMT announced Friday.

According to data published by the KMT, Legislator Chen Shei-saint (陳學聖) obtained 22,387 signatures, of which 10,710 were valid. Acting KMT Chairwoman Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) gained 65,606 signatures, of which 37,780 were valid. Former Deputy Legislative Yuan Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀出) obtained 80,875 signatures, of which 38,407 were valid, while Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) got 28,834 signatures, of which 9,620 were valid.

According to KMT rules, those running for the party's top position are required to obtain the endorsement of at least 3 percent of qualified party members to pass the threshold for candidacy.

A member can only sign for one candidate. If any members are found to have signed for more than one, their signatures are considered invalid.

Also Friday, the order in which the four candidates will be placed on the ballot was decided, with No. 1 going to Chen, No. 2 to Lee, No. 3 to Huang and No. 4 to Hung.

The by-election is scheduled to take place March 26.

The KMT has to elect a new leader after Eric Chu (朱立倫) resigned to take responsibility for the party's defeat in the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections.

(By Hsieh Chia-chen and Y.F. Low)
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