ANALYSIS: Expulsions leave TSU in awkward position

Chao Yung-mau (趙永茂), a political science professor at National Taiwan University, said that the TSU's house-cleaning might help the party secure some votes from centrist voters, but nobody knows whether they will come out and vote.

"It is a dramatic and dangerous move," he said.

Besides, the party does not benefit from it in the short term because the candidates they nominate to replace the legislators they expelled are unlikely to win, he said.

Chao speculated that Lee, who is known for his political acuteness, may try something else before the elections to boost the TSU's odds of winning more seats in the legislative polling, in which a new electoral system will be used.

Political commentator Luis Chong (何其忠) said that the new electoral system is bound to put smaller parties in an unfavorable position and that it will be hard for marginal parties such as the TSU and PFP to maintain their political influence.

They will either disappear or merge with bigger parties if they fail to come up with more distinctive or appealing policies, he said.

Chong also criticized the TSU's new path of "center left" as "vague" and "unsuited" for Taiwan.

However, a "vague" party line may serve as an advantage for the party in a new political situation following the legislative and presidential elections, he said.