The pan-blue camp retained a majority in the legislative elections held on Dec. 11 with winning 114 seats in the 225-seat legislature, which maintained the virtual gridlock of the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan.
Meanwhile, the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) along with its ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) failed to secure a majority, but remained the biggest party in the legislature with 89 seats. Adding the 12 seats won by the TSU, the pan-green camp scored a total of 101 seats. Because the green camp failed to achieve its goal of winning a legislative majority, the DPP sought to cooperate with the People First Party (PFP), which lost 12 of the 46 seats it had won in 2001.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMESN
Most analysts attributed the pan-green camp's poor showing in the election to a poorly implemented vote-allocation plan, as well as an overly optimistic assessment of the number of seats the camp could win. Low voter turnout was also blamed for their failure.
Taking responsibility for the DPP's setback in the legislative elections, President Chen Shui-bian (
Presidential Office Secretary-General Su Tseng-chang (
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