Furthermore, the DPP’s candidate for Greater -Taichung, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), campaigned as a wild card and almost beat Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強). His successful attempt to narrow the gap between the DPP and the KMT in Taichung make him a potential running mate in the 2012 presidential election.
Although the DPP candidates in the north lost to their KMT opponents, Tsai and Su Tseng-chang are still the party’s most likely presidential hopefuls for 2012. Other senior leaders, such as former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), also have an eye on the seat. It will require good coordination and fair nomination rules to decide who will represent the DPP in 2012.
Finally and most importantly, the DPP leaders need to make the most of the elements of pragmatism, moderation and non-partisanship that they injected into the municipality elections in the party’s future cross-strait debates.
In addition to criticizing the Ma government’s signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) as a move that would hurt the working class, labor unions, citizens in central and southern Taiwan and small and medium-sized enterprises, the DPP must also adopt a more pragmatic and moderate approach. That means developing its own cross-strait policy that strikes a balance between sustaining Taiwan’s sovereignty and forging a normalized relationship with Beijing.
Liu Shih-chung is a senior research fellow at the Taipei-based Taiwan Brain Trust.
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