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Let members vote, pay fees later, Wang urges KMT

For fear of losing ground in the upcoming chairmanship election, Legislative Speaker and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday voiced opposition to a rule requiring party members pay membership fees before voting in the poll.

Characterizing the requirement as "running against the party's reform spirit," Wang said that the rule might mislead the public into thinking that the KMT is "a party of the elderly" because most of its faithful members are old.

"Although it requires further study to decide whether the decade-old rule makes sense, I do not see any hope nor future for the party if it does not have the resolve to change things that do not make sense and are outdated," Wang said.

The legislative speaker made the remarks yesterday morning during the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting. Raising the issue at the meeting, Wang said that a majority of KMT members will not be able to participate in the election because of the rule.

While the KMT has more than 1 million members, he pointed out that only about 200,000 to 300,000 members -- most of whom are elderly -- will determine the outcome of the election because of the membership-fee requirement.

Wang said that the KMT must study whether the membership fee requirement violates legal principles and, if so, the party should take the initiative to amend the rule.

He also said that the membership fee requirement stipulated in the party rules governing the chairmanship election is against the KMT charter, which states that the party chairman should be elected by the rank-and-file.

The rules specify that those eligible to vote in the KMT chairmanship election must be a party member -- and while older members must complete their membership registration new members must have been part of the party for over four months and pay membership dues before gaining the right to vote.

The KMT had originally planned to pass its schedule for the election during yesterday's meeting. The item, however, was not included in the agenda owing to the dispute over the membership fee issue.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), another KMT vice chairman, said that he supports any rules that are fair, reasonable and open.

Ma has announced his bid to run in the chairmanship election set for May, and Wang is also expected to declare his decision to vie for the post soon, possibly by next Thursday.

Liao Feng-teh (廖風德), head of the KMT's organization and development committee, said that the election is being held in accordance with established rules and that amendments will be required if party members disagree with these rules.

"The party's democratization will only be deepened if everybody plays by the rules," he said. "Any change to the rules must follow standard procedures and be approved by the party."
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