The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is determined to win the presidential election in January to save people from an unhappy nation with a bad economy, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told a rally in Taipei yesterday to conclude her 11-day campaign trip.
“We are going to march toward the Presidential Office. We are determined to return to power in 2012,” the presidential candidate told tens of thousands of screaming supporters on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
The event, which took her from the southernmost tip of Taiwan en route to 79 townships in 14 counties covering a total distance of more than 500km from Oct. 6 until Thursday, was aimed at generating support in the run-up to January’s presidential election.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
Despite the road trip being marred by a series of attacks against vice presidential candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and his family over alleged illegal land use, senior DPP aides said the tour was a success, with some saying that supporters had shown even more passion than during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) re-election campaign in 2003 and that the number of people who had showed up at various stops had been “surprising.”
The presidential candidate had to abandon her original plan of passing through supporters to reach the stage and instead stepped onto the podium from backstage before making her speech to end the trip.
Tsai told the crowd she has been deeply touched by the people she met during the “fruitful” trip.
“I stand here with a heart full of appreciation for our supporters across the nation. I’m thankful to those who told me that I have to win [the election] and change the country, those who waved at me and tried to shake hands with me, those who told me they’re excited that Taiwan is going to have a female president,” she said.
Tsai reiterated her support for Su, as she did in previous speeches in the second part of the trip.
At the same time, she stepped up her effort to explain why voters should not support President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election bid, saying in her campaign stop at Taoyuan on Saturday night that Ma’s integrity was questionable after failing to implement the vast majority of his campaign pledges.
The China-friendly president has failed to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, she said, adding that Ma’s performance on the economic front has been miserable with an increasing wealth gap, rising national debt, fiscal imbalance and shaky economic development.
After traveling the “last mile” of the outskirts and downtown Taipei during the day, Tsai’s motorcade arrived at the rally at 7pm and was greeted by an ecstatic crowd chanting “Taiwan’s first female president,” the main slogan of Tsai’s presidential campaign.
Su, who spoke before Tsai, reiterated that recent attacks on him were mud-slinging tactics and a coordinated effort by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the media.
For the first time in the DPP’s presidential campaign, the so-called “three Kings and one Queen” of party heavyweights, including former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and former premiers Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃), Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), appeared on stage to endorse Tsai and to show party solidarity.
An estimated 80,000 supporters attended the rally, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. Large contingents of police officers were seen at the site, with -supporters reportedly spilling over on to grounds occupied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tsai campaign spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told the Taipei Times last night that Tsai’s camp had requested a larger police presence for the rally because of the expected large crowd.
Tsai said earlier yesterday in Taoyuan that a media report that she would form a coalition government if elected was “plainly a rumor.”
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