Lien says 'sorry' to KMT faithful

A s an atmosphere of shock and disappointment settled in at the KMT's campaign headquarters last night, Lien Chan (連戰) admitted defeat in the presidential race, saying that together with the party, he would undertake a period of soul-searching after suffering a setback that put an end to nearly 55 years of rule by the KMT in Taiwan.

Lien said he "felt sorry" for his supporters, because the embarrassing loss had disappointed those who had high expectations of him.

"After the defeat, I should deeply reflect [on] and self-examine [the causes]. It was my less-than-sufficient endeavors that led to the setback," the incumbent vice president said.

Also shouldering blame for the KMT rout was KMT Secretary-general Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), who called a press conference at 9pm to announce his resignation.

On behalf of the party headquarters, Huang said he respected the Taiwanese people's decision and attributed the loss to a split KMT, adding that the party will speed up its pace of reform to win back the people's hearts.

During Lien's brief remarks, he offered conciliatory words to his erstwhile DPP rivals. "I would like to congratulate Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Annette Lu (呂秀蓮)," he said.

He also spelled out his expectations for Chen as the country's new leader. "Faced with the current intricate situation, I hope that you will lead Taiwan into a new phase with open-mindedness and a new way of thinking," he said.

Lien said he respected the result of the election as the expression of the will of the people, adding that the smooth election process marked another watershed in Taiwan's democratization.

Lien also used the opportunity to try and lift the decidedly low morale of KMT members. The KMT vice chairman said his party has had a glorious tradition and has made concrete achievements as the ruling party in Taiwan, urging his party comrades to not lose heart after their defeat.

"We should restart again immediately, so that we'll regain support and approval from the people in Taiwan," he said.

After Lien himself acknowledged failure, chairman of the campaign committee Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) -- also the speaker of the Legislative Yuan -- said that it was still too early to make an accurate analysis of the failure. However, he said that according to their preliminary assessments, "there appeared unexpected variables in final days, especially the 'Shi Wen-lung (許文龍) and Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) effects.'"

Lee, president of Academia Sinica, and Hsu, president of Chi Mei and a close friend of President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), made clear their stances to back Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) a week before election day.

"On the other hand, rumors of a `dump Lien and save Soong' effect, as well as `dump Lien and save Chen,' had been widely spread," Wang said.

Jason Hu (胡志強), Lien's campaign manager, also said that "it is not to be denied that there was a large gap between the real outcome and [our] expectation."

Hu insisted that according to a number of polls and research conducted by the KMT's camp, Lien has had the highest popularity rating among the candidates since March 8.

"However, according to the law, publication of poll results are banned during the ten days leading up to election day. Therefore, the message was not received by the public. Instead, people kept the old image that Lien was behind other candidates and this wrong message made them dump Lien," Hu said.