Chen hints at forming coalition

Addressing the DPP's 9th National Congress meeting, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged all party members to exert themselves in order to win the December elections so the party can expand its legislative presence.

But Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), one of the few guests from the KMT in attendance, appealed to the party to focus on using "inter-party negotiations [in the legislature] in solving the current political standoff."

In his keynote speech, Chen told some 200 party representatives that "we are still one step [from] fully accomplishing the transfer of power. Therefore, in the year-end elections, every one of us should devote ourselves to facilitating the party in becoming the majority party in the legislature."

Chen added that if the party were to become the majority, it "could further ally with other opposition forces to occupy over half of the total legislative seats."

Chen's remarks immediately prompted media speculation that he was responding to a recently debated controversy over whether a coalition government was the DPP government's inevitable solution to the current political stalemate.

Chen, however, did not elaborate further, but said "if the goal is achieved, A-bian will be able to do a good job for the next two and half years, otherwise, many difficulties will arise."

After hearing Chen's remarks, Wang expressed different views.

"[The public] would like to see [the legislature] carry out principles of party politics rather than expecting [the party] to form a ruling majority," Wang said, adding that conciliatory efforts should be made among all political parties.

Endorsing Chen's view, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) also said that the party would reinforce its political reforms to become "the most decentralized and transparent party that aims to look after the rights of minority groups."

Hsieh, however, admitted that the DPP government should have made more progress because a high expectation has been placed on it in the hope that the DPP would rule better.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said that he hoped the public would give the DPP-led government more time to adjust to being the ruling party since this was the first ever transfer of power in Taiwan.

The agenda of yesterday's meeting was simply to finalize nominations of the DPP's candidates for the December's elections and revisions to primary regulations. Therefore, most DPP party representatives did not appear to show as much enthusiasm as they had in the past.

The meeting, nevertheless, reached several conclusions which included that the party would authorize its Central Executive Committee (中執會), joined by heads of local divisions, to call upon several candidates to run for public offices in some constituencies where the party had failed to select a candidate in early April primary elections.

The proposal, which asked the party's Tainan City Chapter not to call upon independent legislator Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) to run for Tainan City mayor, was also approved on the grounds that Hsu is not a DPP member. Hsu, however, could still join the party before the elections, if he would like to represent the DPP. The party's Central Executive Committee could later decide to nominate him, it was said.

Party members at the meeting also approved a proposal to add "anti-black gold clauses" to its nomination regulations, which would exclude any individuals who have been involved in organized crime from running in elections on the party's behalf.