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Elections 2006: DPP promises more reflection

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday vowed to continue with reform and conduct further soul-searching as the party narrowly won the Kaohsiung mayoral election but lost the poll in the capital.

"The DPP will not stop nor oppose reform initiatives," Yu said. "This is the toughest challenge the party has ever experienced since its founding, but [yesterday's] election results make us believe that the Taiwanese are wise and they were not swayed by any of the media's false reporting."

It has been the DPP's core mission to safeguard Taiwan's independence and sovereignty, and establish a normal country, he said.

"I believe only the DPP can accomplish this mission," he said.

Yu made the remarks at a news conference held at the DPP headquarters last night.

Yu had previously said that he would resign "if the result was worse than the current status quo."

Given Chen Chu's win, Yu was saved from having to resign.

It was not an issue whether he would step down as his party did not lose the elections, but managed to maintain the status quo, Yu said.

The party's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday garnered 49.41 percent of the vote, narrowly beating the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英), who collected 49.27 percent.

Yu dismissed talk that yester-day's polls were a vote of confidence in President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), billing the two issues as separate matters.

Calling the Taiwanese the biggest winner of yesterday's elections, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) thanked the electorate for their support.

Su, who is scheduled to leave for Gambia on Friday to attend the inauguration ceremony for Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on behalf of the president, thanked the president for his campaigning efforts and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), the DPP's mayoral candidate for Taipei City, for his strong showing.

Hsieh surprised many with his strong finish, despite the fact that the capital city has traditionally been a pan-blue stronghold.

While Hsieh garnered 41 percent of the vote, he still lost to his KMT rival Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who totalled 54 percent of the ballots.

President Chen had a better showing in his re-election bid in 1998 -- amassing nearly 46 percent of the ballots -- but he still lost to Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who collected more than 51 percent of the votes.

DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said his party had expected the election results and blamed Hsieh's defeat on the poor showing from People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
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