The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is resorting to three tricks to win January’s legislative elections.
First, it is trifling with the law to benefit its own legislators through pork-barrel politics.
Second, it placed Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at the top of its legislators-at-large list and it is using the speakership as a carrot to lure him to campaign for the party’s other candidates.
Third, it has nominated the children of several local faction members who have criminal records.
All that can be said about this is that the KMT is like an old dog that cannot learn new tricks. It clings to political factions and the sharing of party spoils; it has shown that it is one old dog that cannot learn from the younger generation’s desire for and pursuit of democratic mechanisms and fair competition.
KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that some of the legislator-at-large nominees are potential candidates for the 2018 local government elections, and is asking them to serve as legislators-at-large for only two years.
Perhaps Chu wants them to learn from him how not to do something well and how not to follow through. After all, he broke his promise to New Taipei City residents to “run the city well and finish my mayoral term.”
This requirement to run for new posts in 2018 is tantamount to replacing the KMT’s regulations stipulating four-year terms for legislators-at-large, demanding that they act like substitute pork-barrel lawmakers and benefit from one job while running for another.
This kind of calculation is even worse than that of some members of the US House of Representatives, who pass pork-barrel bills to appropriate US federal money for local projects in their districts.
Obviously, some of the KMT legislator-at-large nominees are likely to end up as temporary lawmakers who leave the legislature after two years to run for mayor or county commissioner posts.
Although the US system has been criticized, it still operates within democratic parameters.
Whether US lawmakers are nominated for re-election or choose to run for senator, governor or even president is not decided solely by the chairperson of their party. Instead, nominees are decided by voters through party primaries.
However, the KMT appoints its nominees according to the will of its chairman to take advantage of national resources.
Wang made every effort to top the KMT’s legislator-at-large list in the hope of being re-elected speaker.
Worried that people might criticize his age, the 74-year-old Wang wrongly argued that many members of the US Congress do not retire until they are in their 80s or 90s.
However, it is very rare to see US representative or senator continue in their positions into their 80s. Among 100 US senators, 23 are older than 70, including five who are older than 80. Of the 435 representatives, 46 are older than 70, including three who are older than 80. His age would make Wang the seventh-oldest member of the US Senate.
Age by itself is not a problem. If voters prefer older politicians, they clearly have the right to vote that way. However, a party’s legislator-at-large list is a package deal and voters cannot choose which individuals they want. The party leadership decides the order in which candidates are entered on the list, and the legislative speaker is to be elected by legislators.
By striking deals under the table in advance, Chu clearly shows that he really does not understand democracy at all.
James Wang is a senior journalist.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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