Editorial: DPP must choose clean nominee

Sunday saw Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) become the latest member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to declare his intention to run for the presidency next year when he held a press conference at Fort San Domingo in Tamsui. In doing so, Su became the third of the party's so-called "big four" to declare his or her presidential ambitions, after former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) is the only one of the four yet to throw her hat into the ring, but she is expected to make her intention to run public soon.

This is likely to create a selection headache for the DPP, but it is the kind of dilemma that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would be only too happy to have.

Realistically, only one of the four will end up satisfied, as a vice presidential slot is unlikely to appeal to those who fail to get the nod for the top job.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former party chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) are reportedly lined up to lead the negotiations between the interested parties as the DPP looks to reach a compromise that will avoid any embarrassing splits and ensure the most suitable candidate is selected to run in the election.

The DPP will be looking to avoid a situation similar to the one that beset the KMT in 2000, when James Soong (宋楚瑜), now the People First Party chairman, left the KMT to run as an independent, sabotaging the chances of the KMT candidate, vice president Lien Chan (連戰), and handing victory to Chen.

But if the negotiations turn sour and certain candidates prove unwilling to take a back seat, then it may prove a wise move for the party to wait for the outcome of judicial investigations into the use of special funds by the four in their previous posts as county commissioners and mayors before making a final decision. Which of them, if any, are indicted could have an important bearing on his or her chances in next year's battle.

After all, in the current political climate and with "corruption" allegations hanging over the heads of the president and former Taipei mayor and KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the DPP nominating a candidate perceived as "clean" is essential, as this will defeat the KMT's all-too-obvious efforts to tar any potential DPP candidate with the same brush as Ma.

And there is every chance to believe that the chosen DPP candidate will be facing off against Ma, as it would be the height of folly for the KMT to select anyone else. So far, only Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has shown any kind of interest in challenging Ma for the party's nomination, but if it came down to a primary between those two, the 2005 party chairmanship result should leave no one in any doubt about who the victor would be.

It is imperative, therefore, that the DPP nominate someone with a spotless image. This will hand the party's nominee the moral high-ground and help the party to focus the election campaign on other, more important issues.

The nation's most important electoral contest degenerating into a no-holds-barred mudslinging "battle of the indicted" benefits no one who has Taiwan's best interests at heart.