Print

Mail

wiki links

Campaigners strapped for cash

Taiwan's battered economy has dampened campaign spending ahead of the Dec. 1 legislative and mayoral elections as candidates struggle to raise money from enterprises and supporters.

"We asked for cash contributions. People gave us packs of cigarettes and bottled water instead," said Chen Chun-hsiung (陳俊雄), campaign manager for Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), standard bearer of the DPP in the mayoral elections in the southern county of Tainan.

For Su and most of his fellow DPP candidates, fund-raising banquets were one of the main sources of cash in past years.

But things have been quite different this year.

"Contributors paid NT$1,000 (US$29) each for a 10-course dinner in the past. This time, they pay NT$500 and get a lunch box," Chen said. "The election climate is the coldest ever."

The nation is expected to see its economy post a full-year contraction this year for the first time ever, with joblessness swelling to an all-time high of 5.26 percent.

Taiwan's share prices have tumbled by more than half compared with the levels during last year's presidential election. Many listed firms are in the red.

An election consultant said many candidates had only been able to come up with one-tenth of what they raised in the past.

"The situation is bad. In the past, few candidates were worried about money a month before the elections. But many are still scrambling for funds as we speak," said a consultant who asked not to be identified.

Even candidates of the KMT, the world's richest party with assets estimated at between US$6.7 billion and US$16 billion, were hurting.

"Money was never a big problem for us. But it is now a problem," one KMT official said. "Everyone is poor. There are no exceptions."

For the KMT, the polls are a make-or-break test after their defeat in last year's presidential election.

The KMT, struggling to remain the dominant party in the Legislative Yuan, plans to spend NT$1.5 billion on campaigning, far outpacing the NT$80 million planned by the DPP.

Most candidates are appealing directly to voters, making back-to-back stops at weddings and other social functions as well as visiting markets, offices, schools and government agencies.

"I run around from dawn till dark everyday," said Jason Hu (胡志強), the former foreign minister who is now running for mayor in Taichung under the KMT banner.

However, with just two weeks to go before voting, election fever has yet to take off.

An out-of-town visitor driving through the streets of several Taiwanese cities hardly notices elections are under way.

Campaign banners and posters featuring candidates are far less visible this time around.

So are campaign mementos such as T-shirts and lighters due to an intensified government crackdown on vote-buying.

Huang Chien-tsun (黃建村), who makes campaign banners, said he has given up hope for a pre-election boom.

"Business is very bad. This is not like a normal election," Huang said.
This story has been viewed 1563 times.