TPP, KMT to announce joint policy platform on March 13: Huang

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) will announce a joint policy platform on March 13, as a prelude to a formal cooperation agreement ahead of Taiwan's November 2026 local elections, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said Wednesday.

In a press release issued after a meeting of the TPP's central committee on Wednesday morning, Huang said the joint policy platform will be released on March 13 at a press event in New Taipei's Xinzhuang District.

The platform, which will cover issues including social welfare, housing justice, environmental sustainability and industrial development, will be the first part of a three-stage electoral cooperation plan, Huang said.

The second stage of the plan will be the signing of a written cooperation agreement, which the parties have begun discussing and hope to release by the end of March, Huang said at a press conference later that day.

In the third stage, the parties will consult on how to put forward the strongest slate of candidates for the Nov. 28 elections, the press release said.

Local elections

In Taiwan's local elections, which take place every four years, voters will select mayors and city councilors in the special municipalities of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung; as well as magistrates, mayors, councilors, town chiefs and town representatives in the other 16 counties and county-level cities.

The opposition TPP and KMT, as well as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), have begun selecting their nominees in the races, though candidate registration will take place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4.

By reaching a cooperation agreement, the TPP and KMT are hoping to avoid situations in which their candidates split the opposition vote, thus handing wins to the DPP.

In the New Taipei mayorship race, for example, two prominent opposition candidates -- Huang for the TPP, and Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) -- could add uncertainty in a city the KMT has held for over 20 years, unless one of them agrees to bow out.

In Taiwan's January 2024 presidential election, a bid to run a joint KMT-TPP ticket featuring the parties' respective nominees, Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), fell apart because neither would accept the vice presidential slot. This is widely seen as having cost them the election.

With the opposition divided, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was elected with only 40.05 percent of the votes.