People First Party Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (
Chang said supporters of the proposal should review the civics lessons they received in primary school, as the candidates' campaign platform, rather than their partisanship, should be what is important to the electorate.
"Our president and vice president are from the same party now, but they always differ in terms of their views. Sharing a same partisanship doesn't help much," Chang said.
Chang noted that the KMT and PFP have formed an alliance in the legislature to monitor the government, and there is now high public anticipation that the two parties will cooperate to win the 2004 presidential election.
The people will give them a chance to form a ruling coalition in 2004 if the two parties have cooperated very well, Chang predicted.
Chang said he does not care as to whether the TSU proposal is intended to block a possible partnership of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in the next presidential race, because what the people are concerned about most is who can resolve their problems.
For example, the DPP government has failed to handle the problem of the water shortage, and the "gambler-like leadership" of President Chen Shui-bian's (
"The government has been well aware of the problem from the very beginning, but it betted that it would rain," Chang said. "It has followed a gambler-like mentality and wouldn't try to limit the controllable risk."
Reacting to Chang's criticism on the proposal concerning the presidential ticket yesterday, Yu said he respected Chang's right to express his opinions, as Taiwan is a country with freedom of speech.
Yu promised the Ministry of the Interior will allow an extensive public discussion on the issue before the policy is finalized.
He said the issue should not be politicized, as the ministry had planned to draft an amendment to the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Law during the office of former minister Chang Po-ya (
Also yesterday, a group of KMT and PFP legislators said the recent steps taken by the "pan green" camp to block the KMT-PFP cooperation indicate that it is very worried to see the solidarity of the "pan blue" camp.
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