Legislator Lai Ching-te has emerged as the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) candidate for the Tainan municipality mayoral election in late November, it was announced Friday after he topped the list of hopefuls in a public opinion survey. Lai came out on top with an average approval rating of 44.28 percent compared with runner-up Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair's 32.6 percent in three public opinion polls held by the DPP to select its candidate. The other hopefuls in the primary for the municipality, which will be a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County, included incumbent Tainan Magistrate Su Huan- jhih and legislators Yeh Yi-jin and Lee Chun-yee. Hsu did not immediately commit to full support of the winner of the primary, as the magistrates of Tainan and Kaohsiung did when the DPP candidates for the two new municipalities in those areas were announced. This has given rise to speculations that Hsu, who has had a credible performance in office and has long been interested in running for mayor of the new Tianan municipality, could leave the party and compete as an independent. The following are excerpts from local media coverage of the issue: China Times: DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said she has already called Hsu and that the latter has shown good sportsmanship but he may need some time to 'think things over.' Tsai expressed appreciation for Hsu's response, saying that he has contributed to the smooth running of the party's nomination and primary process. She also said all DPP members think that party solidarity is very important. 'I think Mayor Hsu has a deep attachment to the party, and that he will play a very important role in its future development, ' she said. However, it is understood that Hsu's campaign is not happy with the results of the public opinion polls and that some hawkish supporters have expressed the hope that Hsu would throw his hat into the ring. Hsu's campaign has questioned the fairness of the public opinion polls and has also attributed his loss by a wide margin to Kuomintang supporters' backing of Lai. But some DPP sources in Tainan said that Hsu has served for two terms, and that Lai won the hearts of voters with the theme of his campaign, which was 'it's time to pass the baton to someone new.' United Daily News: According to the UDN's latest public opinion polls, Lai will beat the KMT candidate in Tainan by at least 40 percentage points, whether the ruling party KMT nominates Kuo Tien-tsai or Lee Chuan-chiao -- two former legislators. The UDN's survey found that in a Lai-Lee matchup, the DPP candidate will prevail by 59 percent to Lee's 15 percent. If Lai comes up against Kuo, the DPP candidate will win with 57 percent of the vote, while Kuo will take 15 percent, according to the poll. Further analysis shows that Lai has overwhelming support within the DPP-led pan- green camp and among middle-of-the-road voters, Even among supporters of the KMT-led pan-blue camp, Lai's approval rating is higher than Lee or Kuo's, the analysis found. Liberty Times: Tainan County Magistrate Su said that he respects the results of the primary and will throw his weight behind the DPP candidate in the interest of party solidarity and ideology. Tainan Mayor Hsu has not appeared in public since the primary was completed. His aides have said it is not important for him to make any public statements and that it is cruel to ask a newly vanquished nominee to show 'party solidarity.' Hu has said via his aides that he 'needs time to think things over and then he will state his intentions.' He has not yet come out of the shadow of defeat, but he is heartened by the warmth extended to him, according to his aides. Legislators Lee and Yeah said that they have accepted the results of the primary and will now throw their weight behind the party's candidates in the five municipality elections. (May 8, 2010) 