Contrary to its expectations and predictions, the pan-green camp failed to build on a legislative majority after the dramatic conclusion of the legislative elections yesterday. President Chen Shui-bian (
"The elections have come to an end and the most important thing right now is not to embrace a specific party's victory, but to embrace a united Taiwan," Chen said.
"Although the DPP gained slightly in seats and in the percentage of votes, we are still a long way from our goal."
"We feel very sorry that many incumbent legislators lost their elections, and the DPP will need to examine itself thoroughly. I would like to apologize to our supporters and to those who lost, and I'm willing to take complete responsibility," Chen said.
After holding an emergency meeting conferring with other DPP high-ranking officials, Chen made the remarks last night at about 10pm.
The DPP picked up a total 89 seats, which includes 70 district legislators, 16 legislators-at-large and 3 overseas legislators -- far behind its goal of 101 seats and only two more seats than at the last elections. It obtained 35.72 percent of the votes, up from 33.39 percent in the last elections.
"I would also like to thank the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) and its candidates for their help, including former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝)," Chen said. "Although the TSU and the DPP are competitors, we have also cooperated with each other. Hopefully in the future, we will consolidate more and become a stable power together in the legislature."
Chen also called on the opposition parties to hold to the principles of "benign competition" and "rational supervision," allowing the legislature and the administration to have better interaction and make room for improvement.
But Chen did not announce he would step down from his office as the DPP chairman in the news conference, as a TV news report observed.
However, DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang said that he will also step down from his legislator-at-large seat, which was a promise he had made before the election. The DPP's high ranking officials will temporarily stay in their posts until the DPP restructures itself.
"The main reason the DPP didn't perform well is that we made mistakes in the vote allocation strategy, and the KMT's limited nomination was put into effect," Chang said. "But the DPP will continue its reforms and will not give up."
Meanwhile, TSU chairman Huang Chu-wen (
The TSU encountered a setback in this campaign. It secured 12 legislative slots -- one seat less than in the 2001 election.
"Compared with three years ago, the TSU didn't make any progress at all. We even lost a seat," Huang said with a somber expression. "However, such an election result was decided by all the people and we should respect the voters' decision."
"Although the TSU didn't perform well in this election, we will still hold on to our platforms, including working on drafting a new constitution and changing the nation's name," Huang said.
Huang said that he called former president Lee and reported the election results to him.
"Former president Lee told us to analyze our mistakes thoroughly, yet he also wanted us to take a rest first," Huang said.
Commenting on the reason why the TSU failed to score at least 25 seats as it had hoped, Huang pointed out that the TSU's failure was not the result of a single factor, since elections are quite complicated, and any flaw can cause adverse situations.
"We won't blame the DPP for not extending the pan-green camp's turf. We can't blame anyone. We have to examine ourselves thoroughly after this election," Huang said.
"I would like to call on KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"Hopefully, when pan-blue leaders claimed they would form a new Cabinet and continue to plague the legislature if it did not win, it was only campaign rhetoric," Huang added.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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