The fighting between two of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) kingpins over the party's presidential ticket has proved that even the best plans can go awry, political analysts said yesterday.
Despite months of speculation about whether former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
On May 9, Ma invited Wang to be his running mate one week after securing the KMT's nomination for the presidential election.
Rather than responding, Wang advised Ma to look for alternative candidates, although he did say that he had felt that Ma's invitation was "sincere."
Commenting on the development, KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (
"In the beginning, Ma's camp thought Ma could win even without the help of the party, but with [Ma's] sagging support rate in recent polls after his indictment, they gradually came to appreciate the votes Wang might earn for Ma," Hung said.
Ma was indicted on suspicion of embezzlment during his tenure as Taipei mayor from 1998 to last year, and he is now standing trial.
The tension between the Ma and Wang camps is well known among political circles.
Wang is said to bear a deep grudge against Ma that dates back to Ma linking Wang with "black gold" politics when the two men were vying for the KMT chair in 2005.
Ma slaughtered Wang in the polls, winning 72.4 percent of the vote, and he tried unsuccessfully several times to invite Wang to be the party's chief vice chairman.
"The label made Wang uncomfortable. And the worst thing is that Ma never apologized," Hung said.
Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元), an assistant professor of public administration at Chung Hua University, ascribed the friction between the two camps to their respective sources of political strength, which are out of synch with each other.
"Wang and his associates build their power based on local elections, and thus they are often tagged as symbols of local cliques and of money politics," Tseng said.
He said that the Wang camp was concerned that Ma could be tainted by an association with Wang.
A survey conducted by the Chinese-language China Times found on May 9 that Ma's support rate had dropped from about 50 percent in February to 33 percent, while while his Democratic Progressive Party counterpart Frank Hsieh (
Tseng said the circumstances obliged Ma to go to the Wang camp, which is good at using local party bosses to mobilize support for the KMT in elections.
A source close to the Ma camp said on condition of anonymity that Wang was initially not on Ma's shortlist for vice president.
The recent developments in the political situation, however, also changed Wang's thinking.
"Maybe it's hindsight, but I thought the speaker should have taken up the position of the party's chief vice chairman," said a KMT lawmaker who wished not to be identified.
He said if Wang had done so, he would have become the party's chairman and Ma wouldn't have secured the nomination so easily.
Ma resigned his chairmanship and declared his candidacy immediately upon his indictment, despite a party regulation that bars indicted members from contesting official posts.
That was followed by a late-night meeting, where KMT elders decided to cancel the bylaw.
Ma supporters, led by KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (
Wu suggested instead that membership not be suspended until a final verdict is delivered in a criminal case, a proposal likely to be discussed during the KMT's national convention next month.
Hung said that since Wang gave up running in the KMT primary, he had prepared himself for being absent from the presidential contest next year.
"That Hsieh won the DPP primary reinforced Wang's doubts about being Ma's running mate. For Hsieh and DPP supporters, the [current] 9-percent margin is nothing. Wang would rather stay put than join a race with little chance of winning," he said.
But Ger Yeong-kuang (
"Ma and Wang complement each other in many ways. Handling international affairs is Ma's strength, while Wang is familiar with local matters. Ma is popular in northern Taiwan and Wang has a stronghold in the south ... and [Taiwanese] ethnicity," Ger said.
Ger said Ma should be able to talk Wang into being his running mate if Ma guarantees that Wang would attend to national affairs.
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