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PFP, TSU fighting for survival after poor poll showings

Last week's mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung saw crushing defeats for the People First Party (PFP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), whose leaders have either quit politics altogether or tendered their resignations, leaving their followers not knowing what to do next.

On the prospect of the PFP's continued cooperation with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that if PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) continued to lead the PFP, "it would be instrumental to KMT-PFP cooperation."

Soong, who asked for a leave of absence from the party chairmanship to run for Taipei mayor as an independent, garnered less than 5 percent of the vote and announced he would leave Taiwanese politics for good.

Ma said he would not meet with Soong until his own party had reached a consensus on the terms of forming an alliance with the PFP, a consensus he said was unlikely "within the next two days."

The TSU, which fielded two candidates in Taipei and Kaohsiung, fared even worse, as both candidates won less than one percent of the vote.

TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強) has offered to quit, but the party's Central Executive Committee has yet to make a decision on whether to accept his resignation.

Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源), secretary-general of the TSU's legislative caucus, said that his party would not disband.

The TSU would like to talk with its ally the Democratic Progressive Party over a joint strategy for nominating candidates in next year's legislative election, he said.

Huang said he was making the proposal so the "pan-green camp" can expand its power base in the legislature, which will adopt a new "single-member, two-vote" system after redistricting is complete.

"However, the TSU currently does not have the right to serve the ball," Huang acknowledged.

He also admitted that while his party has a "fighting chance" in some constituencies, it must first seek not to be "marginalized."

Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交), executive director of the PFP policy committee, said if both Ma and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) expected Soong to remain PFP leader, why could Soong not act as the party's "spiritual leader?"

Analysts agree minor parties like the PFP and TSU will have difficulty surviving in the new legislature, when seats will be cut almost by half to 113 next year.
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