The question of whether Liao Cheng-hao (廖正豪) will run for Taipei County commissioner is a puzzle symptomatic of the difficulties facing efforts by the KMT and People First Party to cooperate in the year-end elections. Similarly, the question of whether the KMT or the DPP will lose more of its votes to candidates nominated by the new party now being formed by Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and his allies is bedeviling plans by the ruling party to cooperate with the new group. All the parties who have talked so loudly of cooperation are now nervously wondering what kind of damage to their political aspirations will be done by their partners.
The KMT and PFP are both facing tremendous internal repercussions from their proposed joint venture. Many people in the KMT are unwilling to forfeit their campaign benefits. The PFP appears to have a plethora of would-be candidates scrambling to grab votes under the canopy of James Soong (宋楚瑜). Both parties are having difficulty keeping their own people happy. Campaign cooperation is proving to be easier said than done -- especially in the city and county chief elections. Even worse, KMT and PFP candidates will be competing for the same electorate in the legislative elections. Cooperation will be the last thing on candidates' minds as they duke it out with each other.
The KMT and PFP want Liao, a popular former justice minister with a good reputation, to run for county commissioner in Taipei County. Liao is close to KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), although he headed Soong's campaign headquarters in last year's presidential election. Both parties skipped their normal nominating procedures to support Liao, but this has triggered a backlash from both would-be candidates and grassroots workers. Accusations have been flying, for example, that Liao was slow to decide whether to run for the job because he wanted to wait for more campaign funds from the KMT and to squeeze more "promises" of support out of the PFP. With all the criticism it is no surprise that Liao's own family isn't backing a decision to run.
The prospects for cooperation between the DPP and Lee's new party don't look much better. As Lee's associate Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) works to rally people behind the group, the fact that many of its members will be people who failed to win DPP nominations is turning DPP officials into insomniacs. Those willing to cross over do not necessarily have sufficient local power bases to ensure a victory, so it's possible they could end up hurting both parties.
The DPP and Lee's group are also facing confusion over their party platforms. The ruling party was shell-shocked by the huge turnout at the CKS airport last week to greet Lee on his return from the US. It is very likely that pro-independence voters, who have so far supported the DPP, may vote for Lee's candidates instead. Partitioning their platforms has become a pre-condition for cooperation between the DPP and Lee's party.
The DPP has also been hurt by criticism from former chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) over a public referendum proposal on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四), raising fears that the party may lose anti-nuclear votes.
Cooperation -- whether in politics, between nations or on the playing field -- always sounds good in the abstract. Taiwan's politicians and parties are now finding out just how difficult it is to translate an ideal into reality -- especially when one's partner could very well turn out to be one's biggest enemy. Perhaps this is the true face of politics.
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