President and DPP Chairman Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday expressed his regret over the party's failed attempt to unseat incumbent Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), saying the party will take the result as a wake-up call.
Facing the biggest blow since he took office in May 2000, the president vowed to listen to the people's voice with more modesty in the future in an effort to win back people's trust with better administrative performance.
Yesterday's Taipei City election results showed that the DPP's mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) obtained only 35 percent of the vote -- a massive drop from Chen's 45.9 percent in the previous mayoral election four years ago -- whereas Ma won with a landslide 64 percent of the votes.
Chen told supporters at DPP headquarters that one could find thousands of excuses for failure, but there was only one reason -- "the party did not try hard enough and the campaign strategies left a lot to be desired."
Although the party nominated its best candidate, the chairman conceded it was difficult to kindle Taipei residents' passion for reform.
Regardless of the defeat, Chen said Lee should feel hon-ored for the showing, given the circumstances, acknowledging that Ma has advantages in many respects.
With regard to the strained relationship between central and Taipei City governments, Chen stressed that his sincerity to push for a cooperative relationship remains unchanged, despite the fact that Ma will still be the head of Taipei.
The president said he was worried that some opposition politicians had provoked tension between the central and local governments, and between the government and the people.
He urged a halt to such instigation. "The central and regional governments are one and the same. The government should always stand behind its people," Chen said.
Chen also praised the party's performance in Kaohsiung City.
DPP mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) succeeded in his re-election bid, beating his rival, KMT candidate Huang Jun-yin (黃俊英), by almost 25,000 votes. For the first time, the DPP became the biggest party on the Kaohsiung city council.
Meanwhile, the TSU came out with a poor showing.
Hsiao Kwan-yu (蕭貫譽), director of the TSU's Department of Culture and Information, acknowledged the results were disappointing, but said the party had learned a lot from the election.
The pro-Taiwan party, which was founded in August last year, nominated seven candidates in both Taipei and Kaohsiung cities. But only two candidates from Kaohsiung were elected.
The official said the TSU experienced a tough time because it is a small party with limited resources and most of its nominees were political freshmen.
He said former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the party's super stumper, told TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) not to be too bothered by the defeat, adding what mattered most is that all candidates tried their best.
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