Top DPP official says president should take post as party chairman

An integration of government and party leaderships would create a better mechanism for political and administrative operations, ruling DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said yesterday.

Wu said he personally favors an integrated government and party leadership, which he described as a "more workable system for smoother operations between the administrative and the legislative branches."

Wu made the remarks during a brief visit at his office by former Keelung Mayor Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), who recently declared that he will run for the chairmanship of the DPP.

Lee asked Wu about the veracity of allegations that the DPP would push for the election of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as the next chairman of the DPP.

Meanwhile, Ke Chien-ming (柯建銘), a DPP party whip at the Legislative Yuan, said it is still too early to speculate on whether President Chen should be elected DPP chairman.

Ke, nevertheless, added that President Chen, two years into his presidency, should bear in mind one of his campaign promises of not leading the nation as a party leader "to avoid having his election check bounce."

Wang Tuo (王拓), another DPP legislator, said that as far as he knows, the party's lawmakers harbor mixed opinions about DPP reform and the issue of the president doubling as party chairman.

Wang said all party members should be given the opportunity, through debate, to make known their positions on the issue.

At another joint meeting at the Legislative Yuan, Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) was asked by opposition KMT legislator Chen Hsieh-sheng whether the Ministry of the Interior should push for a bill forbidding the head of state from moonlighting as the chairman of any political party.

Noting that it was a question he could not answer by himself, Yu said the interior ministry would convene a public hearing in one month to discuss the issue.