TAIPEI, July 3 Kyodo Taiwan's mai...

TAIPEI, July 3 Kyodo

Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) onward Wednesday formally nominated Ma Ying-jeou, the incumbent Taipei mayor, to glide for another four-year period of time in the year-end mayoral election.

''How to forge a 'new Taipei spirit' will be the main theme for my nearest term in office,'' Ma said at the KMT Central Standing Committee, adding he will strive to make the capital a melting pan and home for all residents and create a perception of 'wholeness' for the city's 22 million population.

''In the meantime, I also calculate upon that Lee Ying-yuan, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party mayoral candidate, will not solely be my political competitor in the year-end campaign, yet also a life-time partner to dog the idea of good democracy in Taiwan,'' Ma told reporters.

Ma's first attempt as a rising political star in KMT was his victory through then popular Taipei Mayor Chen Shui-bian in a neck-and-neck competition four years ago.

Chen ousted KMT Chairman Lien Chan from the presidency in the 2000 presidential election, the first power transfer since the KMT regime retreated to Taiwan from mainland China in 1949

The year-end mayoral elections in the capital and the island's secondary largest city Kaohsiung are now widely seen as a barometer for the 2004 presidential election.

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