Party faithful take to nation's streets

On the final weekend before Saturday's local government elections, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets yesterday across Taiwan to rally for their chosen candidates.

The pan-green and the pan-blue camps held rallies throughout the country, as candidates tried to give their campaigns an 11th hour boost.

From Pingtung County to Taipei County, about 600,000 people -- according to party officials -- poured onto the streets to join in the parades held by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday in 19 cities and counties to build momentum for its commissionership candidates.

DPP heavyweights, including President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌),Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun and Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), yesterday joined several parades -- dubbed "asking for reforms and defending Taiwan" -- that were held in Taipei, Taichung, Ilan and Pingtung counties.

Each politician endeavored to boost the DPP candidates' momentum and many Cabinet officials also attended the events held around the country yesterday.

Amid deafening drumbeats and whistles, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) led more than 200,000 pan-blue camp supporters to parade the streets of Taipei City yesterday afternoon. Supporters shouted out their discontent with the "corrupt government" and their determination to "save Taiwan."

At about 2:30pm, the DPP initiated the day's parades in Pingtung County, with similar events in other areas starting after that in succession, moving northward to Taipei County.

A massive human chain appeared in Taipei County yesterday afternoon. Marchers gathered in front of the Kuantu Bridge (關渡橋) and the Showlang Bridge (秀朗橋) before setting out for the rally location, forming a long chain of people extending for about 50km. Participants stood side-by-side and joined hands while chanting words of encouragement for the DPP candidate for Taipei County commissioner, Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉).

About 100,000 people participated in the hand-in-hand activity and the campaign rally held under the Chunghsin Bridge (重新橋) in support of Luo.

At about 3:20pm, with confetti and fireworks filling the air, Chen, Su and Luo together appeared on the stage, joined hands and shouted "Luo Wen-chia!" and "Vote for No.5!" The audience also joined hands at the same moment and waved little green flags.

After Luo and Su addressed supporters, Chen spoke, marking the climax of the rally.

Chen said that the KMT's rally in Taipei City showed that it hadn't moved forward since March 20 last year -- the day that party lost the presidential election.

"The KMT's rally proves that it can't get out from under the shadow of its defeat. But Taiwan has to move on. People who can't move on should be left to history," Chen said. "Those who condemn and distrust Taiwan are not qualified to lead Taiwan. Whether the DPP or the KMT is a better choice for voters is clear."

Chen criticized Luo's rival, KMT Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), saying that Chou was not qualified to be a candidate and characterized him as "dishonest, ungrateful and shiftless."

Chen said that Chou had lied about borrowing money from the Taiwan Business Bank and refused to pay his loan off using his position of privilege. Chen added that Chou had changed political parties three times in five years, saying that this was dishonest and unreliable.