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Hsieh sworn in, says DPP must unite

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) called for solidarity as he was sworn in as party chairman yesterday.

"We lost in the first half of the game, but we must win back confidence, hope and integrity in the second half," he said, referring to the legislative elections last Saturday and the presidential election on March 22.

Hsieh said the party had its back to the wall.

"We can only march forward and work hard," he said. "We are in a similar state to when the party was established 20 years ago. Apart from a nearly meaningless minority in the legislature, we have nothing. We must fight to survive."

Hsieh said he realized the presidential contest would be a tough one and expected the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to exploit the results of the legislative elections.

Saying the DPP had no option but to unite, Hsieh said the onus was on the party to convince the public that a divided government could function.

RATIONALIZATION

During the party Central Executive Committee meeting that followed the swearing-in ceremony, Hsieh asked the party's newly elected legislators-at-large to establish joint service centers in light of the fact that the party's number of seats had been dramatically reduced.

Hsieh also asked the Executive Yuan to work out a plan to subsidize low-income individuals who cannot afford to pay their health insurance bills.

The committee, meanwhile, agreed that former DPP legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) should serve as the party's deputy secretary-general. Huang Chien-huei (黃劍輝), a spokesman at Hsieh's campaign office, will be the director of the party's secretariat department and DPP legislative caucus leader Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) will lead the party's finance committee.

Amid calls for certain Cabinet officials to be held responsible for the party's elections defeat, DPP Central Standing Committee member Huang Ching-lin (黃慶林) said the party should rather focus on the presidential election.

inappropriate

Hsieh said after the committee meeting that it was inappropriate to apportion blame and that those bent on doing so should not be involved in the party's presidential campaign.

He likened these critics to camels in a caravan that were too tired, hungry or thirsty to continue.

Huang Ching-lin said Hsieh's comment was inappropriate and urged the presidential candidate to keep everyone onboard for the sake of party unity.

Hsieh said he had not addressed his comment at anyone in particular.

DPP Cultural and Information Department Director Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said the party would listen to the public and it was meaningless to hold anyone accountable for the election defeat.

"We could have criticized ourselves and debated where we went wrong, but we don't have much time for that because the presidential election is looming," she said.
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