DPP putting up a fight down the `back of the mountain'

Due to the unique structure of their electorates and the long-term reign of the Chinese Nation-alist Party (KMT) administration, Hualien and Taitung counties in eastern Taiwan may continue to be the pan-blue alliance's strongholds in next year's presidential poll.

Situated to the east of the Central Mountain Range, Hualien and Taitung counties have long been called the "back of the mountain." They are also dubbed by environmentalists as the "last clean soil on the island" thanks to their low development and tourism-oriented industries.

People of the two counties have remained loyal to the KMT and People First Party (PFP) over the years. One of the most recent examples of this was the by-election for the Hualien County commissioner in August last year.

In the three-way race, former KMT lawmaker Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山), jointly endorsed by the KMT and PFP, scored a landslide victory with 73,710 votes -- over 32,000 more votes than his rival You Ying-lung (游盈隆) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Hsieh received 51.4 percent of the total cast, while You gained 28.9 percent, or 41,508 votes, and the independent Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟) had 18.3 percent, or 26,205 votes. The turnout rate was just over 55 percent.

Hsieh attributed his triumph to his long-term dedication to local affairs. Hsieh, a native of Hualien, served as a KMT lawmaker representing the county between 1973 and 1994. He chaired the Council of Labor Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and was promoted to secretary-general of the Cabinet in 1999 before the KMT's half-century rule came to an end in 2000.

Although the county by-election was branded by many as a litmus test of the presidential election, Hsieh, however, said that he saw it more as a poll of the DPP's performance here.

The DPP had flown in such political heavyweights as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and Council of Hakka Affairs Chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), who threw their weight behind the DPP's ticket and inundated voters with political promises and financial assistance in the run-up to the by-election.

"People here knew that I've been here for the past 30 years and that I'm not just someone who they knew little of and came here to give them empty promises," Hsieh said in his second-floor office of the Hualien County Government building.

In addition to the KMT's long-term relationship with local people and politicians, Hsieh said that the unique constitution of the country's electorate plays a pivotal role in various elections.

"Traditionally, mainlanders, who make up about a quarter of the county's population, are long-term KMT supporters as are Hakka and Aborigines, who each account for another quarter of the county's population," he said.

During the five-way race for the 2000 presidential poll, the KMT's Lien Chan (連戰) and James Soong (宋楚瑜), who ran as an independent candidate, together gained over 78 percent of the vote in Hualien.

Hsieh predicted that the joint ticket of the pan-blue bloc, featuring Lien and Soong, would manage to canvass a similar number of votes in Hualien as they did four years ago.

"Although many things could happen before the election, I suspect the basic voting structure may not change to much if the candidates trumpet platforms meeting the needs of the electorate," he said.