As Taiwan enters the countdown to local government elections on Dec. 5, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has launched a series of TV commercials, but its chairman, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), is conspicuous by his absence. The KMT said this was a deliberate decision to keep the focus on local issues. But Ma has said that any candidate who needs his support can count on his help. This contradiction reveals the KMT’s ambivalence toward Ma’s role in the year-end polls.
These elections are not crucial for the balance of power. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) may at best take control of one or two more cities or counties. But even one more could boost the DPP’s morale and help it make a comeback in 2012.
The pendulum effect is coming into play. The KMT, dominant in the legislature, won a landslide victory in last year’s president election. But voters are now fed up with the party’s indolence, arrogance and conceit, and are likely to express their discontent next month.
Recent polls show that, while the KMT still enjoys higher approval ratings than the DPP, Ma is less popular than DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Many KMT candidates have distanced themselves from the president as they see his aura dimming. It is reminiscent of how former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), toward the end of his second term in office, became a political liability to the DPP, and its legislative candidates hoped that he would stay away from their campaigns. Now it is KMT candidates’ turn to worry that Ma could erode their standing with voters.
The Ma administration has not made up for its poor performance over Typhoon Morakot in August. If possible, it has gone from inept to mind-boggling incompetence. The uproar over its US beef import policy and the resulting waffling on the part of the Cabinet are one example.
The party has hit several stumbling blocks. Four KMT legislators have had their elections annulled by the courts because of vote buying, and were all replaced by non-KMT legislators in by-elections. Reports of vote buying in the KMT Central Standing Committee election prompted Ma, in his role as party chairman, to order a rerun. Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) admitted taking a trip to Indonesia with a paroled former gangster while he was still KMT secretary-general. He then offered piecemeal explanations. His lack of candor only added to suspicion that he had something to hide.
More recently, the media has had a field day over KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng’s (吳育昇) extra-marital affair. Wu is one of Ma’s leading factional supporters, and this scandal, erupting not long after Ma stressed the importance of morality and integrity, was a slap in the president’s face.
Meanwhile, the government’s handling of the signing of a financial memorandum of understanding between China and Taiwan made Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and lawmakers from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps see red over the administration’s failure to brief the legislature.
With the DPP calling on the public to teach the Ma government a lesson, the KMT has failed to come up with fresh policies to woo voters. Instead, its candidates appear eager to distance themselves from the central government and Ma altogether.
The KMT needs to work out a competitive election strategy. If Ma wants to help his party’s candidates, then he needs to show some substance. If, however, he thinks his involvement will prove a liability, then he should stay in Taipei and focus on his presidential duties.
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