Chen offers to take blame for loss in Taipei election

President and DPP Chairman Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday offered to assume responsibility for the party's failure to secure the Taipei mayoralty in Saturday's election.

Amid the heated discussions following Saturday's polls on who might run in the 2004 presidential election, Chen said there was no need for the party to join the speculation because its main tasks are to focus on reform and to revive the economy.

"As the president and the party chairman, I have to shoulder full responsibility for the election results. I'll take the lead by examining myself and I will listen what others have to say," Chen said.

Yesterday Chen hosted the party's first Central Standing Committee after the elections, and thanked the party's staff for their contributions to the campaigns.

The ruling party suffered a crushing defeat in the Taipei City mayoral election but kept the mayoral post in Kaohsiung.

In Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) hammered DPP candidate Lee Ying-yuan (李應元). Ma obtained 64 percent of the vote, while Lee got 36 percent. Lee got 10 percent, or 200,000 votes, less than those the DPP got in the previous mayoral election four years ago.

Chen said on Saturday that the party would take the outcome of the Taipei mayoral election as "a warning" to the party.

To win the public's trust, Chen, who is often criticized for his excessive attention to campaigns, shunned the subject yesterday.

Amid speculation that Ma would be the KMT's most likely choice to run for the presidency in 2004, Chen said he had no comments regarding the matter.

"What the DPP is thinking about is reform and the economy, the election is not on the party's agenda for now," Chen said.

The president also addressed the opposition, saying the party will take the initiative to try to reduce the antagonism and build up a cooperative relationship between the central and local governments.

Meanwhile, the DPP formed a special five-member task force yesterday to look into the allegations made by Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍), the majority shareholder of the ill-fated Zanadau Development Corp.

Su said on Monday that she had helped two DPP lawmakers succeed in past elections by donating NT$20 million to party officials and she claimed that the money was used to buy votes for the candidates.

Chen said the party has to take Su's the allegations seriously. He said he has faith in the integrity of his colleagues, but urged the task force to conduct an investigation.

As the scandal surrounding Zanadau snowballs, Chen said he believed in the impartiality of the judicial system and would support a full investigation.