As a party that contributed greatly to the democratization of the nation, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is facing its most difficult period since it was formed 22 years ago and the party fully recognizes that it could become irrelevant if it suffers a heavy defeat in the city and county elections scheduled for the end of this year.
The party, which has been damaged by the allegations and court cases involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) — who left office last May after eight years as president and then was charged with embezzlement, taking bribes and money laundering, influence peddling and blackmail — failed badly in the legislative elections in January last year and the presidential election last March.
“It is a life and death battle. The DPP needs to do well in the city and county elections to remain one of the nation’s two main political parties,” DPP Department of Culture and Information director Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said in a recent telephone interview.
PHOTO: CNA
Cheng added that, while the party had a bad time last year, it was not at all pessimistic about the city and county elections.
“We succeeded in gathering together large numbers of people for three rallies against the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] government — the Aug. 30 rally to protest against the government’s poor performance on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 100th day in office, the Oct. 25 rally to protest against the toxic products imported from China and to protect Taiwan’s sovereignty and the rally to lay siege to China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) when he met Ma on Nov. 6 — which showed that much of the public still supports the DPP and dislikes Ma’s China policies and his incompetence in handling the economy,” Cheng said. “Protecting our sovereignty and the economy will be the key issues for the party during the city and county elections.”
Various polls had also shown many KMT local government heads had 50 percent or higher disapproval ratings and it was a good chance for the DPP to win back those regions, he said.
The DPP holds power in six of the cities and counties that are holding elections this year — Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Tainan City and County, Kaohsiung County and Pingtung County.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said the party should be able to win another six regions at least and was hoping to win eight.
However, the party has so far failed to come up with a single candidate for the Tainan County election, as two ofits legislators, Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) and Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅), have expressed a desired to run, while Chen Shui-bian’s former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) has also said he will enter the race, no matter whether the party nominates him or not.
“The party needs to be patient and we will continue to negotiate on the matter,” Tsai said, while many remain concerned the different candidates may split the party’s vote in the county and lose the DPP one of its strongholds.
But not content with consolidating support in the south, the party has said that Taipei County — the nation’s largest administrative region — would be key among the city and county elections and that the party will ensure it puts forward its best candidate.
The party believes it has a good chance of winning back the seat, as Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) of the KMT has consistently had one of the worst approval ratings among local government heads.
There are calls within the party for former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to enter the race, but he has so far remained noncommittal.
Soochow University political science professor Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the elections are so important to the DPP that he was expecting Tsai to run in Taipei County, saying that he believed Tsai would perform well.
“Even if she failed, she would succeed in cultivating a campaign team that could be used if she was interested in running for the 2012 presidential election,” Lo said.
He said the DPP should use the elections to field candidates with ideals and wisdom, and not just field faction members or local politicians as candidates.
Lai I-chung (賴怡忠), an executive member of the pro-localization Taiwan Thinktank and a former director of the DPP’s International Affairs Department, said the party should use the city and county elections to nurture the next generation of ‘national leaders’ who could represent the party in future national campaigns, but that so far he had seen no evidence that the party would attempt such a campaign.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS