Saturday’s local elections highlighted the power of the people and consolidated the leadership of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), but many challenges remain for the DPP, which should adopt a more aggressive approach in future nominations, panelists attending an election forum said in Taipei yesterday.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said the elections showed that Taiwanese still have faith in democracy and that “the ballots can talk.”
“The public knows how to use ballots to make the best possible choices and have their voices heard,” she said at a forum organized by Taiwan Thinktank, to look at Saturday’s three-in-one local elections. “When people have the power to chose, the administration should give them the right to hold referendums.”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) clinched 12 of the 17 counties and cities in the election, but garnered 47.88 percent of the total votes, a drop of 2 percent from the 2005 elections. Although the DPP secured only four areas, it received 45.32 percent of the total ballots, a 7.2 percent increase.
Kuan said the DPP’s showing was on a par with the party’s very best performance in history in 2001, but cautioned that it was not enough to turn the DPP into a majority party at the local level.
The elections nevertheless consolidated Tsai’s leadership, she said, adding that the path of “Xiao Ing” (小英, Tsai’s nickname) had proved effective and made the likelihood of infighting at the DPP unlikely in the near future.
Kuan said the party should adopt a more aggressive approach to nominating candidates in future elections, adding that it should not fear its KMT rivals.
Soochow University political science professor Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the public must not overestimate the DPP’s performance in the elections by seeing it as a sign that it could win the next legislative and presidential elections.
Lo said the elections pitted a united DPP against a divided KMT, a group fighting a lone campaigner — President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — and a DPP fighting for its survival against a complacent KMT.
“The result is a pivotal point allowing the DPP to bounce back, while the KMT goes from prosperity into decline,” he said. “The DPP is like a patient out of intensive care making a fresh start.”
The KMT’s setback could compel Ma to consider slowing down the pace of his cross-strait policies, Lo said, adding, however, that Beijing would seek ways to prevent him from doing so.
“Beijing will redouble its efforts to help Ma get re-elected in 2012 so it can resolve the Taiwan issue as soon as possible,” Lo said. “Taiwan is racing against time.”
The seven legislative by-elections will be important for the DPP, Lo said, as they will decide whether the DPP can keep the Ma administration in check.
Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元), an assistant professor of public administration at Chung Hua University, said the elections showed there was room for improvement in terms of the electoral system. This includes whether public TV channels should allow candidates to promote their campaign platforms, whether future elections should be funded by the government and whether campaign subsidies should be issued before the elections.
He also proposed a decrease in the number of party representatives in local election committees from 50 percent to 40 percent.
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