An inefficient vote-allocation strategy and an excessive number of nominees were attributed by many political observers as the main reasons behind the pan-green camp's unsuccessful bid to obtain a legislative majority in yesterday's elections.
Noting that there were many Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) candidates who failed to win by just a few votes, former DPP public survey center chief Chen Chun-lin (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"It appears that the vote-allocation strategy adopted by the DPP and the TSU did not help the pan-green camp, but ended up having the candidates fight among themselves for votes," Chen said, saying that some constituencies ended up with a lose-lose situation for both the DPP and the TSU.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"It is clear that the DPP will have to engage in a re-assessment over its electoral maneuvers and strategies," Chen said. Chen is deputy chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission.
Agreeing with Chen's remarks, political commentator and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine Chin Heng-wei (
One mistake committed by the pan-green camp, said Chin, was that "the pan-green camp had unrealistic expectations that it could achieve major growth in its number of seats in the elections."
The goal of attaining a legislative majority led the DPP to nominate too many candidates in the election, Chin said, adding that it was another factor which the DPP needed to re-evaluate.
While admitting that the DPP had lost the elections since it did not meet its targeting goal of obtaining 101 seats in the new legislature, DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (
Citing statistics to support his remarks, Tsai said that the DPP this time had garnered 35.72 percent of the vote, a slight growth over the 33.38 percent of the vote in the 2001 legislative elections.
The DPP won 89 seats in yesterday's poll, two more than it won three years ago.
Noting that there were many pan-green candidates who enjoyed relatively high support rates before the election, yet obtained low votes in the poll yesterday, Tsai said these candidates' high approval rates had ended up working against them at the last minute when voters went to the polls.
Referring to the various topics talked about by Chen during the campaign period, such as the issue of changing the name of all relevant government agencies to include the word "Taiwan," Tsai added that it was possible that the voters did not have ample time to absorb and digest these issues, or to translate them into actual votes for the pan-greens in yesterday's polls.
"The DPP will re-assess its electoral maneuvers and operations after [yesterday's] elections," Tsai said.
The TSU, under the leadership of its spiritual leader, former president Lee Teng-hui (
The TSU, a pro-independence party, obtained only 12 seats in yesterday's elections.
"Overall, the TSU did not perform well," said Hsu Yung-ming (
The shrinking number of seats garnered by the TSU might put the party at risk of becoming an empty decoration, Chin said, adding that the next thing to observe was what move or gesture TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (
While saying "the TSU's setback will probably harm Lee a bit," Chin noted that Lee has always been an individual of high ideals. Lee has never just had his sights solely on the elections, but rather on Taiwan's overall vision and future prospects, Chin said.
Admitting that the TSU's performance in yesterday's poll landed far short of its expectations, TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘), who lost his re-election bid, said the TSU's unsatisfactory performance was a result of the results of vote-allocation strategies as well as President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) slogan "salvage the weak candidates."
"As a result, those high in the front list split their votes for the weaker candidates and ended up having themselves fall behind," Chen Chien-ming said.
With the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) of the pan-blue camp retaining their grip on the new legislature, various issues, including the one concerning the KMT's ill-gotten party assets, are unlikely to be tackled in the immediate future, Chin said.
Tsai expressed his worry that the opposition-controlled legislature will continue to make Chen a lame duck and boycott policies proposed by the government.
Noting that Chen had stated that he wanted to form a Constitutional Reform Committee and a Committee for Cross-Strait Peace and Development (
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition