Sun, Apr 22, 2007 page4

• Feature: Civic groups push agendas on nation's political parties

  FOR THE PEOPLE Various advocacy groups are putting pressure on the parties to select candidates who have a proven track record of involvement in social movements

  • By Flora Wang / STAFF REPORTER
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  There is no better timing than the period preceding a major national election to push one's agenda through the political "jungle," because it is during this time that one has the best bargaining chips -- ballots -- to seize the attention of political parties.

  With the nation's legislative seats halved to 113 seats, every political party is calculating how it will manage to occupy the majority of the legislature under the first trial of the "single district, two votes" system.

  Many civic groups and organizations representing underprivileged individuals are seizing this opportunity to put their agenda on the "plate" of every political party by attempting to influence the nomination of legislative candidates.

  "We are urging the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to realize its ideals and keep its promises to build a welfare country as stipulated in its party platform," League for Promotion of Old People's Welfare secretary-general Lu Yu-chin (呂玉琴) said at the group's campaign launch.

  The campaign, endorsed by some 80 public welfare organizations, came in the wake of a recent controversy surrounding the primary mechanism by which the DPP will choose its legislative candidates.

  DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and several senior party members, including Central Standing Committee member Huang Ching-lin (黃慶林), had previously said the party should elect candidates who best represent the party's ideals for legislators-at-large.

  The party finalized a stricter public survey scheme which includes only "deep-green" supporters -- or 30 percent of voters -- in this year's primary, a bid to prevent "pan-blue ideals from being `delivered' by using the DPP as a `surrogate mother.'"

  Under the DPP system, the public poll rating will account for 70 percent of a candidate's "score" in the legislator-at-large primary, while party member votes will decide the remaining 30 percent.

  This has worried some underprivileged groups as they are not sure if long-term legislative advocates of disadvantaged minorities they have been working with would be able to remain in the legislature.

  "In the face of a halved legislature, the political wrangling within the DPP will be unprecedentedly intense. Politicians who are more experienced in election campaigns regard nomination of legislators-at-large as bargaining chips for their influence on district legislative nomination," said a statement issued by these organizations early this month.

  "The social welfare groups are worried that, based on the party's logic, the merits of a legislator-at-large depend on whether he or she is `deep-green' enough or loyal enough. These seem to have been given more weight than expertise and the issues they stand for," the statement said.

  The DPP's past primary system stipulates that some of its legislators-at-large should be nominees who are specialists on a subject or representatives from a non-governmental organization.

  Last year's DPP national congress also resolved that no less than half of legislator-at-large nominees should be women.

  The party chairman, for his part, has the authority to appoint one third of these nominees. Four candidates on the chairman's nomination list this year are considered safe for the legislative bid.

  DPP Lawmaker Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) is among the advocates these groups would like to secure for the primary because they have cooperated with him in pushing for amendments to the Senior Citizens' Welfare Law (老人福利法), the Disabled Protection Law (身心障礙者保護法) and the Mental Health Act (精神衛生法).

  Meanwhile, 26 environmental protection groups, women's rights groups and the National Teachers' Association were pushing another campaign to recommend "good apples" for the parties' legislative nomination lists.

  These groups have publicized a number of criteria which they would use as a reference to decide whether to recommend a candidate.

  Among the criteria are that a candidates did not resort to "verbal or physical violence" during their prior legislative term and that they did not make any comments that would arouse ethnic tensions or gender discrimination.

  Those who are more concerned with public affairs and disadvantaged groups or used to be active in social movements are strongly recommended to political parties, campaign documents said.

  The groups recently came up with their first nomination list, which included the DPP's Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), Lee Wen-shung (李文忠) and Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), the KMT's Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷), Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠), Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄) and Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛).

  Shen, Lee and Lo were also on a separate list drawn up by a group of DPP grassroots supporters who would like to see the three "eliminated" from the DPP primary because of their criticism of the party when the party was facing challenges such as last year's "state affairs fund" scandal.

  Chu Tseng-hong (朱增宏), president of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan and one of the major forces behind the campaign, said the campaign aims to encourage undecided voters to vote for the nominees.

  "We are unable to influence grassroots supporters in the pan-blue and pan-green camps, but we can at least call on swing voters [to vote for qualified legislative nominees]," Chu said by telephone earlier last week.

  In the past, civic movements tended to discourage voters from voting for disqualified legislators, but the campaign decided to adopt a different strategy by coming up with a recommendation list this year, Chu said.

  "The blue-versus-green political opposition and both camps' ignorance of public issues lately have been the worst [in recent years]," he said, adding that prior legislative and county chief elections have also seen voter apathy.

  Detailed measures for the campaign to apply pressure on political parties, however, remained under discussion, Chu said, adding that they would take a different approach following the primaries.

  Jou Yi-cheng (周奕成), chief executive of the Generations Forum -- an organization of DPP "Young Turks" -- said it would be "difficult" for the two campaigns to effectively influence the DPP's legislative nomination.

  As major party officials are preoccupied with the elections, "they seem unconcerned with the party's development," he said.
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