What an ignominious farce the Greater Tainan council speakership election turned out to be.
That the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost was unfortunate, but the severest blow was wrought upon the cause of women in Tainan, on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) council speaker and on democracy in Tainan.
A certain KMT-affiliated female councilor, in order to protect DPP councilors bribed by the KMT to vote against the DPP line, tore open her jacket and thrust her bosom in the direction of DPP ballot inspectors, intentionally distracting them or blocking their line of sight and preventing them from doing their job. Not only that, she was actually proud of herself for sacrificing her modesty in the process of “fulfilling her duty.”
You only usually see this kind of brazen behavior in two scenarios: With ladies of the night plying their trade in a city’s red light district, or with slightly unhinged women accosting unfortunate men.
For a city councilor to behave in this way, to transform the stately council chamber into a place of seedy circumstance and to sexually intimidate others on the floor for political purposes was a grievous blow to women fighting for equality.
In a mature democracy, seniority is very important in selecting the speaker of the house. In the US, for example, the speaker of the US House of Representatives is generally a seasoned member of the house, and their election, in which the whole house votes, is mostly a formality. Both parties vote along party lines and it will always be the leader of the majority party that is elected. There are no abstentions and certainly nobody votes against party lines.
However, that is not what happened in Tainan. The KMT fielded a council newcomer, and this newcomer was elected as speaker despite the party having a minority in the council.
It wanted the speakership and it meant to get it, by fair means or foul. It bribed DPP councilors to vote against their party line and relied upon a female party member to block the opposition’s ballot tellers. This most inglorious of elections has brought shame to the democratic process in Tainan.
For the KMT, winning is all that matters. It was ecstatic at gaining the prized Tainan council speakership, despite having a minority of only 16 council seats. It has not said a word about the shameful behavior of the councilors and the vote-buying scandal. All this does is reinforce the image that the KMT uses money and intrigue to corrupt the nation’s democracy.
The DPP does not come out too well in all this, either. Several within the party voted against the party line. If this was because they were lured by money, well, then there is corruption there, and if money was not involved, then the party has a problem with the integrity or loyalty of councilors affiliated with it.
The KMT has many resources at its disposal, and it has consistently sought to sow division within any political organization opposing it — in the dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) movement of the past and now within the DPP.
The DPP, meanwhile, does not go on the offensive, or lacks the resources to, and is no match for the KMT in this regard. For this reason, it is vulnerable to the KMT’s divisive tactics.
James Wang is a media commentator.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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