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Premier predicts DPP will win most legislative seats

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) predicted on Friday that the DPP will emerge as the largest party in the Legislative Yuan after the year-end elections.

Chang, who arrived in Grenada on Friday for an official visit, told a group of Taiwan journalists who accompanied him on the trip that he is not certain that the DPP can win a legislative majority but that he is confident it will replace the KMT as the leading party.

He predicted that the KMT will lose some of its 115 seats in the legislature to two of its breakaway groups, the People First Party (PFP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).

The PFP, which was founded by former KMT Secretary-general James Soong (宋楚瑜), might increase its presence in the 225-seat legislature after the year-end elections, but it is unlikely to surpass the DPP, which presently holds the second-highest number of seats at 67, Chang said.

Furthermore, he said, various polls have given the DPP the highest approval rating of all the parties, followed by the PFP, the KMT and the New Party, in that order.

Therefore, Chang said, there is no question that the DPP will be the leading force in the next Legislative Yuan.

But the premier refused to speculate on whether he will stay on in his present post if the DPP becomes the major party in the Legislative Yuan, saying that it is up to the president as he has the power to name the premier.

Citing as an example Tang Fei (唐飛), a KMT member who proceeded him as premier, Chang said party affiliation was not as vital a factor in choosing a premier as a candidate's identification with the president's agenda and his ability to cooperate with the president.

Although there are rumors that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) may form a coalition and name a new premier after the elections, Chang said he relishes every single day on the job and will do his best as long as he holds the post of premier.

Grenada is the last leg of Chang's trip to four Caribbean states that have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

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