Rift emerges in pan-blue camp

The pan-blue alliance showed signs of a split in Kaohsiung City, with a march scheduled for yesterday being cancelled due to disagreements between members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP).

KMT legislators and city councilors who declined to be identified said the demonstration in Taipei was dominated by PFP figures who had nothing to lose. They said pro-localization KMT figures in southern Taiwan cared more about strengthening their relationship with vote captains.

The result of the presidential election showed that the KMT had lost support in the south.

The party will be put to the test in city council elections in Kaohsiung next month. The elections are the result of a bribery scandal involving the election for council speaker in December 2002.

Legislative elections next December will also be crucial for the party's future.

In Tainan, where President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were injured by gunshots on Friday, prosecutors and police released more information about the assassination after reviewing photos and videotapes.

According to Tainan Prosecutor Wang Sen-jung (王森榮), prosecutors dismissed a call to police by an individual claiming he was behind the attempted assassination

"False reports will only postpone our clearing up the criminal case," Wang said, urging the public not to provide false evidence.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau released reports yesterday suggesting the gunman could have not been close to the targets.

Reacting to the continuing demonstration in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, the chiefs of both Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County yesterday stressed the importance of functional public authorities in a civil society, saying some people's lack of faith in the state shows a lack of respect for democracy.

Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that the lack of trust would pose problems for public authorities.

"The most serious political problem is the lack of trust in society," he said.

Hsieh said the city government would investigate alleged irregularities in the presidential election in order to win residents' trust.

Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), also of the DPP, said the election dispute is before the courts, which deserve people's respect.

Yang said the county government would cooperate with any recount.

"But I don't quite understand why the pan-blue camp remains suspicious. It obviously underestimates people's wisdom. The international press conference held by the camp in Taipei incurred the ridicule of experts," Yang said.

It's widely assumed that the number of ballots for the DPP might increase in the south in the event of a recount.