President Chen Shui-bian (
The DPP's vote-allocation system, which aims to spread votes evenly between candidates and therefore maximize the number of seats won, involves requesting supporters to vote for specific candidates in multi-member constituencies in a methodical way.
Vote-allocation systems have proved effective for both the DPP and the New Party in past legislative elections.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Vote allocation requires candidates to avoid emphasizing themselves over other candidates from their party and asks voters to ignore their personal preferences for any candidate but the party's designee.
Chen attended a press conference held by his former aide, Lo Wen-chia (
"I appreciate all of my supporters, but I would like to appeal to them to vote for the candidates they are assigned to vote for," Lo said.
The DPP nominated five candidates in each of Taipei's two constituencies this year, but the party started worrying about whether the 10 can all be elected since polls have shown that only five to seven candidates are receiving enough support to get elected.
Chen, however, believes that vote-allocation will make a difference.
"The DPP has a stable constituency in Taipei. If we practice vote-allocation correctly, the 10 nominees in Taipei City will all be elected," Chen said at the press conference.
The DPP officially announced the vote-allocation policy in Taipei's two constituencies on Nov. 13, followed by the same announcement in other areas of the country. The policy, though, has caused disputes between the party's nominees, because most of them are afraid that distributing votes to other candidates would result in a loss for themselves.
"I am afraid I will not receive enough votes to win the election. How can I allocate my support to other candidates?" said Mark Chen (
In a reaction to arguments from the party's candidates, DPP secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (
"The DPP's supporters would like to see the party win the majority," Wu said.
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