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Don't try to read too much into local voting

`If we really want to talk about a `vote of no confidence,' the 2000 presidential election certainly saw a vote of no confidence in the KMT. '

What exactly is the significance of the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections?

This is a question of interpretation. Sometimes it needs to be viewed within a long-term framework, or scrutinized according to German sociologist Niklas Luhman's "extended causality" principle. However, many instant interpretations made for specific political purposes are neither consistent nor justifiable.

Both the pan-blue camp and the pan-blue media have long invested "special" significance in Taipei and Kaohsiung cities. Their purpose is to promote the blue camp and suppress the green, their ultimate objective being to oust President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). For example, when Chen went out on the streets to campaign for the DPP's Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), the pan-blue media described it as a crossing of swords between Chen and KMT Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). This is meant to elevate Ma's status, thereby neutralizing the power of Chen's "presidential card."

If the pan-blue media's claim is valid, then why didn't anyone say in 1998 that then president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was elevating then mayor Chen's status when Lee went out and stumped for Chen's challenger, Ma? Why didn't anyone make the city's mayoral race look like a trial match for the presidential election?

What's even more ridiculous is to view the results of Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections as a vote of confidence in Chen. Of course, elections are elimination races, in which the electorate use their votes to decide who's in and who's out.

Naturally, we can say this is a vote of confidence. But in the city mayoral elections, the electorate are casting their votes of confidence in the incumbent mayors. What does it have to do with the president? Only in a presidential election can we have a vote of confidence in the president. A legislative election can also be treated as a vote of confidence in the president, but a mayoral race is only a local government election. Does it have to be pushed upward without limit? The political motivation behind such acts requires scrutiny.

If we really want to talk about a "vote of no confidence," the 2000 presidential election certainly saw a vote of no confidence in the KMT. In last year's legislative election, voters said "no" to KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰). As for Taipei and Kaohsiung cities, what we can say for sure is this: Chen lost his re-election bid for Taipei mayor in 1998, but he went ahead and won the presidential election in 2000. How should we view this "vote of no confidence" in 1998? In the same year, the KMT lost the Kaohsiung City's mayoralty. Did anyone call this a vote of no confidence in the KMT?

Placing such spin on the matter does not make sense. The motivation behind it is quite obvious.

Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.

Translated by Francis Huang
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