One year has passed since the DPP was elected into office, marking the beginnings of Taiwan's first peaceful transfer of power.
But for many, the shift has only just begun, as both the ruling and opposition parties are still trying to adjust to their roles, political analysts say.
"Ever since its presidential setback, the KMT has been successfully outshining the DPP government, attempting to make people believe that the administration is politically incapable of achieving anything at all," You Ying-lung (游盈隆), professor of political science at Soochow University (東吳大學), said yesterday.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has been incapable of countering the opposition alliance's attacks, since the KMT enjoys a majority in the Legislative Yuan, You said.
You, one of Chen's campaign advisers, said the chairmen of the KMT, Lien Chan (連戰), and the PFP, James Soong (宋楚瑜), were trying to pressure Chen to cede his administration to the opposition.
"The alliance between Lien and Soong has continued to make the public cry out against Chen's failure to adhere to the semi-presidential system. Therefore, the message they are delivering is obviously that Chen should turn in his administrative powers to the opposition parties, including the right to make Cabinet appointments," You added.
Echoing You's views, Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), Chen's former campaign spokesman, said that the current political standoff results from an unwillingness to accept Taiwan's first transfer of power.
"Taiwan is currently going through the labor pains of the democratic system. Both the government and opposition parties are still getting used to the reversal of their political roles," Lo said.
Lo said that he believed the political standoff would get worse before the year-end legislative elections because all political parties would compete aggressively with one another to secure their current legislative power.
Evaluating the performance of all political parties over the past year, Edward Chen (陳一新), professor at the graduate institute of American studies at Tamkang University (淡江大學) and a former New Party lawmaker, said the KMT and DPP were to blame for the current political fallout.
"It is inappropriate for the KMT to lash out at the DPP government since it has to shoulder partial responsibility for mishandling national affairs such as cross-strait relations and economic issues when it was still in power," Edward Chen said.
Taiwan's economy was on the decline even before the KMT transferred its political regime to the DPP last May.
"However, the DPP did not act like a ruling party, either. Failing to acknowledge its legislative minority, the DPP should reinforce its ability to conduct political negotiations with opposition parties and, sometimes, make compromises," professor Chen added.
However, the opposition should not confine the president to the stereotype of being a "minority president" because Chen's position is legitimized by democratic processes, even though he garnered less than 40 percent of the votes during the presidential election.
Lo said that in terms of policy making, Chen's administration is suffering because Chen is unable, according to the Constitution, to be directly involved in domestic affairs.
"I can tell that the president is filled with anxiety. He is caught in a dilemma that he has to shoulder the political responsibility over any failure of administrative affairs. But he can't directly instruct the Cabinet himself," Lo said.
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