KMT, TPP team up for November local elections

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Taiwan's two opposition parties on Saturday announced their intention to pursue "joint governance" by coordinating candidate nominations ahead of the local elections later this year.

Speaking at a news conference in New Taipei, Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), chairperson of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said her party and the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP) will team up to improve people's quality of life and address challenges facing Taiwan.

She outlined issues the two parties will tackle together, including high housing prices, low wages and the low birth rate. They will also discuss responses to the rapid development of AI and climate change, she said.

Cheng criticized the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) "ideological governance," which she said has intensified partisan politics that have stalled Taiwan for years.

She expressed hope that the two parties' focus on people-centric governance would serve as the bedrock for cooperation to facilitate their goal of unseating the DPP in the 2028 presidential election.

TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), meanwhile, said the two parties will now proceed to draft a cooperation agreement detailing rules on the nomination process for the local elections scheduled for Nov. 28.

The KMT and TPP have agreed to each assign three representatives to determine the specifics of the agreement, Huang said, adding that the nominations will likely be based solely on opinion polls.

"The paramount objective of the agreement is to identify the strongest candidates using the best method, and so far the best method seems to be opinion polls," he said.

As for places where both parties have already nominated their own candidates -- New Taipei, Yilan County and Chiayi City -- Cheng said the two sides will have to negotiate with relevant parties and stakeholders before making further decisions.