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KMT's not-backroom-politics politicking

`The private arrangement clearly violates due party procedure and has no legitimacy.'

A joint presidential ticket has become a reality. Lien Chan (連戰) will run for the presidency with James Soong (宋楚瑜) as his running mate. The KMT and PFP have pushed for a Lien-Soong ticket for the 2004 presidential election. In fact, the decision regarding the joint ticket was made early on -- in the backroom by the chairmen of the two parties. It was kept secret until the recent announcement.

Prior to that announcement, in response to press inquiries about the possibility of a Lien-Soong ticket, Soong's wife Chen Wan-shui (陳萬水) said, "The general trend is clear but has not been announced." A few months ago, when the two parties were still undecided about the joint ticket, Chen said, "Soong will be able to handle any position." The next day, PFP legislators sought to put a positive gloss on their comment. With the benefit of hindsight, we can infer from Chen's words that no formal procedures were undertaken before the announcement of the KMT-PFP coalition and the Lien-Soong ticket. The two party chairmen made the decision in private, well before its announcement.

As a result of that private decision, the KMT paved the way for a Lien-Soong ticket by first revising a clause in the party charter that aimed at excluding Soong. Next, Lien, as the party chairman, actively sought party members' signatures for himself. Lien, in the end, was able to easily collect more than 250,000 signatures endorsing him on the last day of the registration period for the party's primary election.

The KMT, PFP, Lien, and Soong all deny the practice of "backroom politics." But if this was not backroom politics, what was it? The private arrangement clearly violates due party procedure and has no legitimacy. But the main question is: will it gain the blessing of center-ground voters?

What is more important is this "unannounced" agreement creates fools of the two parties. Unless the parties as a whole are less than perfectly happy with the private arrangement, it makes no sense for outsiders to criticize it. But how will Lien and Soong divide the presidential and vice presidential powers if they get elected? They will have to let the voters know where they stand on this, or the people will worry about the government tearing itself apart in power struggles.

A clash is inevitable. Take a look at the presidential election in South Korea five years ago. The extreme-left and the extreme-right parties built a coalition to ensure victory. Kim Dae-jung drew Kim Jong-pil to his side by offering to revise the nation's Constitution after the election and replace the presidential system with a cabinet system. The upshot was that Kim Dae-jung broke his promise. Will Soong be perfectly happy if Lien follows the South Korean precedent and breaks his promise? If Lien does break his promise, personal and party clashes will ensue. In the end, the people will be the biggest losers.

Lien and Soong still haven't told us how they propose to share power. They must not be allowed to dismiss the question by saying that "the announcement will be made after the general trend [ie, voter sentiment] is clear."

They must give us a clear and precise answer.

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

Translated by Grace Shaw
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