Print

Mail

wiki links

Hualien election victory no reason for complacency

Saturday's landslide victory scored by KMT-PFP joint nominee Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) in the Hualien County commissioner by-election left many pan-blue members in a frenzy of joy, believing that the Hualien electoral win had proven that cooperation between the KMT and the PFP is the formula for electoral success in next March's presidential election.

Given various difficulties and complaints during the course of the KMT-PFP's by-election campaign however, political observers noted that the pan-blue camp had issues it needed to address before it indulges in complacency, thinking that a political alliance between the KMT and the PFP is the key to definite victory in its presidential bid next year.

"The pan-blue camp should not get carried away with the win in the Hualien County commissioner by-election," said Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光), professor of political science at National Taiwan University. "The Hualien experience does not necessarily mean that the pan-blue camp, under the formula of a KMT-PFP alliance, would for sure score another success in the upcoming presidential election."

A non-transparent party nomination process, unsatisfactory grassroots integration and insufficient tacit understanding between the central party authorities and local factions, as well as a lack of trust between the KMT and the PFP, are among the issues that surfaced during the Hualien campaign and which need to be reassessed in the run up to next year's presidential race.

KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will head the pan-blue campaign ticket with PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) as his running mate.

"The KMT-PFP Alliance needs to review its nomination process," said Ger, referring to the Hualien experience during which the alliance's nomination process for commissioner candidate had ended up shaking fellow party members' cohesion with the party.

After failing to secure the alliance's nomination, both Liu Chao-eh (劉詔娥), widow of the late KMT Hualien commissioner Chang Fu-hsing (張福興), and Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟), a former KMT Hualien County commissioner and a decade-long KMT member who enjoys popular local support, branded the party's nomination process "non-transparent and unfair" and announced they would run as independents in the by-election.

Liu later pulled out of the race, accusing the KMT and the PFP of pressuring her to withdraw.

"Failure to reassess its nomination process could end up continuing to upset fellow members and lead to discrepancies among members in the alliance," Ger said.

Citing a number of pan-blue local leaders, including KMT Hualien County Councilor Chung Yi-wen (鍾逸文) and former PFP Hualien commissioner Wu Shui-yun (吳水雲), who had openly thrown their support behind Wu during the by-election in defiance of orders from their respective parties, KMT Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung (徐中雄) pointed out that the integration of both the KMT's and PFP's local factions is another issue that concerns the pan-blue camp.

"If both the KMT and the PFP are unable to integrate their grassroots forces in the run up to next year's presidential election, it could provide a great opportunity for the DPP," Hsu said.

Better communication between the local faction and the central party authority was another issue the alliance needs to address, he said.

PFP legislative caucus deputy convener Chiu Yi (邱毅) admitted that the "Wu is part of the PFP family" atmosphere created by Wu's campaign team during the by-election had highlighted a lack of trust between the PFP and the KMT.

In addition, the PFP had said it had no intention to apply party-disciplinary actions to its members for supporting Wu. There was discontent within the KMT during the course of the campaign and members accused the PFP of secretly endorsing its support for Wu.

"There is the need to strengthen mutual trust between the KMT and the PFP," Chiu said.

Ger said that for now, the Hualien by-election win had allowed both the KMT and the PFP to skip over all discord that emerged during their campaign.

"But in view of the presidential campaign ahead, the KMT-PFP Alliance -- despite a win in the Hualien by-election -- might nonetheless want to engage itself in post-election evaluation to tackle issues and differences that had surfaced between the two parties during the by-election campaign," Ger said.
This story has been viewed 1888 times.