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DPP to use exclusionary polling system

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it would only poll pan-green camp loyalists during the party's primaries to select candidates for legislator-at-large candidates.

DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun told the press that the party's Central Standing Committee passed a proposal at yesterday's meeting initiated by DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) which says that the party should exclude "light-blue" and swing voters from the poll.

"Party identification" will be the factor used to determine which legislative candidates competing for national constituencies will stand out in the poll, Yu said.

Yu said the party had not yet reached a consensus on whether this polling strategy would also apply to candidates running for district legislative constituencies and the presidential candidacy.

The DPP's primary mechanism stipulates that the party must decide on its final presidential and legislative candidates based on the "score" they obtain from a party member vote, which accounts for 30 percent of the score, and an opinion poll rating, which constitutes the remaining 70 percent.

Before the committee meeting, Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who put forth another proposal recommending a more "inclusive" polling style, said excluding "deep blue" voters was necessary but that the opinion of other voters should be included, irrespective of the type of constituency.

"Adopting a new polling style at this moment could make people feel that the party is trying to tailor the poll for specific individuals," he said.

At a press conference earlier yesterday, DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) said that during a private gathering on Tuesday evening, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and more than a dozen DPP legislators agreed to limiting the poll to pan-green loyalists as it was the only way to ensure that the party's candidates represent the true ideals of the party.

In the "single district, two votes" system that the nation will be using for the first time this year, voters will be required to cast two ballots -- one for a candidate and the other for a party.

Legislative seats representing national constituencies will be determined by the ratio of votes received by each party.

Earlier yesterday, former DPP legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), who intends to run for a legislative position this year, said the president must really try to determine whether an exclusionary polling system is the best way to ensure that chosen candidates will conform to the public's expectations of the DPP.
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