A member of the DPP's Central Standing Committee, Lawrence Gao (高志鵬), however, brushes aside these worries, saying that "voters who identify themselves with individual legislative candidates, shouldn't be influenced by the DPP's performance, good or bad, in the central government."
In addition, female voters have always been a target group for the party. But constant bickering between Chen and his partner, Vice President Annette Lu (
Chi nevertheless praises both Chen and Lu, saying that their arguments could have been constructive if men and wo-men had learned lessons from them and adopted a spirit of compromise.
"We've seen that Lu is a very brave female politician who dares to challenge political discourse that is loaded with male chauvinism, while Chen -- unlike other traditional male politicians -- has shown great tolerance for his outspoken partner," she says. She also lauds the party's progress in drafting women's policies over the past one-and-a-half years.
As for the much-discussed prospect of a coalition government, Wu believes that the DPP will not set out its terms for the formation of a coalition before the year-end elections.
"Inter-party cooperation can only be discussed when there's no electoral conflict," Wu says. That, of course, will only be the case when the political landscape has settled down after the elections. Before then, "competition" is the name of the game.
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