Yang says that, even if the DPP only outnumbers the KMT by one seat, the ruling party's influence in the new legislature will be greatly increased even if the People First Party picks up seats from the KMT, positioning itself as a future threat.
Echoing Yang's view, Joseph Wu (
"An estimated 10 to 15 percent of the electorate, which is usually bribed into casting their votes, will not go to the polls if they do not receive any money this time. So, what the DPP's anti-vote-buying campaign can achieve is a reduced turnout that will prevent some opposition candidates from getting elected," Wu says.
Election strategist and a former member of the party's policy committee, Lin Feng-fei (
"Moreover, now that the government has taken control of those grassroots financial institutions, vote-buying channels should have been disconnected to a certain degree of effectiveness," Lin says.
He therefore argues that the DPP should target its traditional supporters, keep pro-independence hard-liners from supporting the newly-established Taiwan Solidarity Union and rely on increased votes from what he calls "watermelon effect voters (西瓜派)" -- voters who he says are inclined to vote for the ruling party, whichever party that happens to be.
Lin also says that he expects that candidates will place a heavy emphasis on the management of public relations since the forthcoming election will be a "saturated" one with a very large number of candidates.
"Shaking hands with voters in person will be considered [by candidates] more important than launching advertising campaigns," Lin says.
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