The final point to be made is that Soong, whose support rating in opinion polls is stuck at about 10 percent, must know that he stands little chance of winning the election, barring a miracle or some unexpected political storm. However, he is also the leader of a party that is flickering like a candle in the wind. As chairman, he bears the chief responsibility for trying to revive his party’s fortunes and the key to its fortunes is the number of seats it can win in the legislative elections.
If Soong can hold steady, cautiously keep to his position of transcending the blue-green divide, retain sympathy votes from “pale blue” voters and attract support from moderates, it will help improve the election prospects of PFP legislative candidates. If the PFP is able to establish itself as a key minority caucus in the legislature, then no matter which party stands at Taiwan’s helm, it will no longer be able to pretend Soong doesn’t exist.
Hsu Yu-fang is associate professor and chairman of Sinophone literature at National Dong Hwa University.
Transated by Julian Clegg
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