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Bad press won't stop DPP in local polls, officials say

With only one month left before the elections for county commissioners and city mayors, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials yesterday said the party is sanguine despite recent negative news surrounding the party, since high-level officials have apologized publicly for the incidents.

The DPP yesterday held its weekly central standing committee meeting in Lukang (鹿港) township, Changhua County in a bid to boost the campaign momentum for its candidates running in central Taiwan.

Election hopefuls present at the meeting yesterday included candidate for Nantou County commissioner Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), candidate for Taichung County commissioner Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), Taichung City mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Changhua County Commissioner Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠), who is seeking re-election.

DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said during the meeting that the electoral districts in central Taiwan are significant for the party and if they can win in these constituencies, it will help consolidate the party's power as a ruling party.

"The DPP's nominees are very good candidates with well-rounded experience and excellent abilities. Although currently we seem to suffer from low support, we are confident that we will surprise people in the end, just like the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox did in baseball," Su said.

The DPP had originally intended to pass a list of members for its new Commission Against Corruption during the meeting yesterday, but this was canceled in favor of election activities.

DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said the party's candidates have taken a clear lead in eight counties and cities, including Nantou County, Changhua County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Tainan County, Tainan City, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung County.

The party is still lagging slightly behind the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) candidates in Taipei County, Ilan County, Chiayi City and Penghu County, however, and must make an effort to catch up, he said.

"But one point we can be sure of is that the decline in support for us ceased after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) apologized publicly for the recent incidents," Lee said. "Although our supporters are angry about the recent news, they will still support the DPP since we have committed to making improvements."

Meanwhile, during the meeting yesterday, Su and Lin accused Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), who is seeking re-election, of being involved in defrauding the public regarding his pension, by falsely reporting the number of years he has worked in government.

Lin said that Hu included the years that he had studied at Oxford University -- from 1975 to 1985 -- in his governmental employee qualifications in order to receive more retirement benefits. It was serious misconduct that had been neglected by the public, Lin added.
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