Kuomintang replaces presidential nominee months ahead of election

Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang party replaced its vocally pro-unification presidential nominee, Hung Hsiu-chu, with the party’s chairman Eric Chu on Saturday less than three months ahead of presidential and legislative elections slated for January 16, Bloomberg reported. “Even though KMT is still unlikely to win the presidential election with Chu replacing Hung, they believe they will have better chances in legislative races,” said Wang Yeh-lih, a professor at National Taiwan University’s department of political science. “But I think they are too optimistic, because the discombobulation within KMT and change of nominee may still negatively impact their seats in legislative yuan in the end.”