President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) called yesterday for the public to back the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Saturday's National Assembly polls and urged voters to seize the opportunity to make possible the task of constitutional reform.
Chen made the call at a news conference held at the DPP's headquarters along with Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Claiming that the DPP always stands with the people of Taiwan at historic junctures, Chen said that the ruling party is determined to complete a package of constitutional amendments passed by the Legislative Yuan in August that includes halving the number of legislative seats, the inclusion of the right of referendum in the Constitution, the adoption of a "single seat, two votes" election system and the abolishment of the National Assembly.
To achieve the goal, voters must go to the polls, Chen said, adding that the DPP needs their firm backing to accomplish its long-standing promise of constitutional reform.
Pointing out that the mission-oriented National Assembly to be elected today will be empowered only to endorse the package of constitutional amendments, after which it will be dissolved, he made it clear that the task has nothing to do with writing a new constitution or changing Taiwan's official designation -- the Republic of China -- as some other parties have claimed.
He appealed to the public not to be influenced by apparent paradoxes and to cast their ballots for the DPP to help the party accomplish its long-term constitutional re-engineering bid and write a new page in Taiwan's history.
The president was referring to the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union, an ally of the DPP that has been trying to win votes from pro-independence supporters by strongly criticizing the ruling party for holding back from its promise to create a new constitution and give a new name to the country.
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