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Updated Monday, July 27, 2009 9:29 am TWN, The China Post news staff

President Ma Ying-jeou casts his vote in the election of the Kuomintang chairman. He went to the Tsing Hsin Elementary School near Taiwan University to vote early yesterday ...

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President Ma elected KMT chairman

When he was elected chairman four years ago, Ma added, the CCP general-secretary sent him the felicitations on the occasion. “If Hu does again, I would cable him my thanks,” he said.

Wang Jin-pyng, president of the Legislative Yuan, voted at his hometown of Luchu in the county of Kaohsiung. He was defeated by Ma in the Kuomintang leadership election in 2005.

He declined to comment on whether Ma would appoint him vice chairman of the ruling party.

“Let's not talk about it,” said Wang, who may have to retire as parliament speaker. He is elected as a member of the Legislative Yuan at large.

A Kuomintang bylaw forbids a third term for a lawmaker at large. Wang is serving his second and last term.

As chairman of the party, Ma is facing a tough job of fielding a winnable slate of magistrates and mayors in the nationwide local elections scheduled for December.

Rivalries among contenders have made it next to impossible to nominate candidates for magistrate in at least two counties.

Contenders are battling out in Hualien and Yunlin. The party had to call off primaries in Hualien, where an incumbent lawmaker convicted of insider trading, Fu Kun-cheng, vows to run for magistrate, though the party bans his candidacy.

A few other Kuomintang leaders are ready to bolt the party to run as independents.

The party has to complete the nomination of all candidates by next month at the latest. They would have to be all nominated by the end of this month.

That means Ma has to tackle the nomination problems before he is inaugurated as party chairman.

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Comments

July 27, 2009 adamg@

Now the way is free to see him going to China and meeting with Hsu there under the name of 2 party leaders meeting !!