New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu registered on Sunday to run for chairman of Taiwan’s ruling party – the Kuomintang (KMT).
The KMT is scheduled to hold a vote on January 17 to elect a new chairman to replace President Ma Ying-jeou. Ma resigned as head of the party following its crushing defeat in recent local government elections.
In the elections, which were held last month, Chu was the only KMT candidate to win a mayoral seat in any of Taiwan's six major cities and counties. Although he has been considered a likely KMT presidential candidate for 2016, Chu has said that he will serve his full term as mayor and will not run for president.
Chu visited the KMT headquarters on Sunday afternoon to submit 106,809 signatures in his petition to run for the chairmanship. He then registered promptly at 2pm, accompanied by the KMT’s acting Secretary-General Hung Hsiu-chu and Vice Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan.
After registering to run for KMT Chairman, Chu said that if he is elected, the first thing he will do is to ensure transparency when it comes to the party’s assets. He said that any questionable assets should be donated.