The stakes wagered by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on the results of yesterday's elections were unprecedented for what were, after all, elections for city mayors, county commissioners and other local posts.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) both vowed to step down from their posts if their party did not win more than half of the counties and cities in which nominations were made.
The voters have presented their verdict -- and it looks like it is time for some serious reform within the ranks of the DPP, while the KMT can sigh in relief for now.
The DPP made 19 nominations in total, but won only six seats, four seats short of its target of 10. The KMT made 20 nominations and won a total of 14, surpassing its target of 11.
Those who still refuse to see these results as a warning for the DPP are not doing the party any favors, but fortunately for the party there is plenty of time to remedy the problems before the next major elections come around.
The DPP lost a total of five seats, Taipei, Ilan, Changhua and Nantou counties, as well as Chiayi City, while gaining Yunlin County.
It is alarming for the party that all the northern counties that the DPP held have now been lost. All six counties won by the DPP are located in the south.
But the jewel in the crown was Taipei County. Su had good reason for including defeat in this county as one of the criteria for his resignation. It is not only the most heavily populated county in the country, but because of its proximity to the capital, the ability to mobilize the county's support will be crucial for the next presidential election.
With Ma and Su eagerly eyeing the next presidential race, the importance of winning Taipei County was no secret. Victory for the KMT's nominee, Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), marks the first time in 16 years that the pan-blues have tasted victory there.
Then there is Ilan County. Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) should have been able to win that race with his eyes shut. After all, he had served as county commissioner before and was exceedingly popular there as well as during his term as minister of justice. A strong DPP candidate in a county that is traditionally a DPP stronghold -- what went wrong? That is only one of the questions the DPP should be pondering right now.
The importance of these elections to the KMT derives from the fact that they were the first under the leadership of Ma.
Commentators have argued that the outcome of these elections would be a good indication of the strength of Ma's leadership. And now that the KMT has performed very well, it is widely believed that the internal rifts and turmoil that were generated by the KMT chairmanship race may subside for the moment.
It seems that the era of Ma Ying-jeou has officially started. The DPP had better start preparing itself for some tough challenges ahead. Finding out where it has gone wrong in recent years is the first step to meeting those challenges.
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Tuesday last week apologized over allegations that the former director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department had illegally accessed citizens’ data to assist the KMT in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors. Given the public discontent with opposition lawmakers’ disruptive behavior in the legislature, passage of unconstitutional legislation and slashing of the central government’s budget, civic groups have launched a massive campaign to recall KMT lawmakers. The KMT has tried to fight back by initiating campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers, but the petition documents they
RSS