Liberty Times: How do you look upon the results of these elections?
Tsai Ing-wen: Of the four county commissioners that were elected, three were incumbents and they all won solid victories. In regaining power in Yilan County, we defeated the incumbent because of his poor performance. This once again gave the DPP a foothold in northern Taiwan and made inroads into this blue region, which is of major significance.
In a few areas where we have had difficulties, we edged closer [to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)]. For example, the difference in Penghu County was a mere 500-odd votes. Then there is Taitung and Taoyuan and a couple of other places. Unfortunately we lost there, but we fought well, and this shows that the traditional strength of the pan-blue camp in these areas can no longer be taken for granted.
The total vote exceeded 45 percent, a clear improvement on the 38.2 percent from four years ago, and it is also better than the 39.5 percent in last year’s presidential election. Considering that there were no elections in areas where we traditionally have been strong, such as Tainan County and city and Kaohsiung, and also considering that we are not the ruling party, this was the best result ever in the mayor and county commissioner elections. Considering all elections, it is second only to the presidential election in 2004.
As for the township chief and city and county councilor elections, the DPP saw a great increase in its number of seats. This has strengthened our monitoring powers in local councils and improved our ability to develop the grassroots level.
LT: Is this in any way significant to the DPP as an opposition party?
Tsai: This is a very positive result for the DPP, and an important step toward a comeback. In particular, given the KMT’s frequent vote buying and slander, and its disproportionate administrative resources and party assets, we are fighting an asymmetric war. This shows that Taiwan is affirming the DPP’s local government record and our ongoing reform and review.
As I see it, the government has committed many mistakes, and the DPP has grasped this opportunity to win more votes through rational persuasion. Furthermore, pan-blue supporters did not come out to vote because they were disappointed with the achievements of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
That doesn’t mean we can say that these people will not come out to vote next time or that they will begin to support the DPP. That means there is still a lot of room for improvement. Only when a majority of voters trust the DPP and votes for us can we talk about victory.
We should welcome the results with humility and be confident without being complacent, because each future election will be harder. There are seven legislative by-elections and the preparations for the special municipality elections. Beginning today, I have already told the party leadership not to relax and that they should once again begin preparing for battle.
In terms of developing party affairs, three things must be stressed. First of all, this was the first time that the DPP had relied mainly on small donations to fight a national election, and that has helped the party transform. We are not in control of the central government and have no party assets, and we have had to put every individual and every cent to their best use in these elections. It’s as if I am once again seeing that past pioneering, hardworking spirit of the DPP. The significance of finding our way back to this traditional spirit may be even more important than the election results.
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