Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) support rate appears to have dropped in the wake of the party's failure in its bid to recall President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Tuesday, according to the latest survey conducted by a local newspaper.
Ma's support rate dropped from 60 percent in March to 49 percent, according to a survey conducted by Chinese-language daily the China Times on Tuesday night.
A similar survey conducted by the United Daily News also suggested that Ma's support rate had dropped, from 58 percent in April to 51 percent.
About 34 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Ma's performance.
In comparison, Chen's support rate appears to be unchanged from before Tuesday's recall vote, lingering around a 19 percent to 22 percent range, according to the polls conducted by the two papers.
Shrugging off his declining numbers, Ma said that he would examine his performance, but reform always comes at a price.
"As long as the KMT continues pushing for reform, it's worthwhile to pay the price," he said.
Meanwhile, in response to the UDN poll which suggested that about 68 percent of those surveyed were dissatisfied with the performance of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), party Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (
The priority for the DPP now was to accelerate reform to rescue the DPP's image and reinstall people's faith in the party, Lin said.
Noting the deteriorating approval rating of the DPP, Lin said that the DPP was facing its most difficult period since it was established and it would speed up the reforms that it promised to the people of Taiwan and would find a new way to conduct business.
In related developments, Ma yesterday decided to hold off on pushing for the resignation of the Cabinet, and demanded that party legislators not sign a no-confidence motion in the legislature.
Ma said the KMT had been following a "moderate path" as a "rational and responsible opposition party," and so the decision over whether or not to topple the Cabinet required careful review.
Most KMT legislators endorsed the party chairman's demand later on during the KMT's Central Standing Committee meeting.
"Before the establishment of related measures regarding electoral redistricting and election rules, demanding the Cabinet's resignation will only make the government face a period of inactivity," KMT Legislator Lee Jih-chu (
A no-confidence vote, which requires only half of the legislature's 221 votes, may result in a change of premier or trigger a legislative election if the president decided to dissolve it. However, the redistricting and election rules for the new "two votes, single constituency" system have yet to be finalized.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
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