Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) encouraged thousands of supporters to vote for opposition party candidates in November, promising the electorate that the party would have a impressive showing.
“We will definitely have a great showing in the [Nov. 27] elections,” said Tsai, who doubles as the party’s mayoral candidate for the soon-to-be-renamed Sinbei City, currently Taipei County. “The future happiness of Taiwanese depends on it.”
Tsai was addressing the thousands of supporters who had gathered in Fongyuan City, Taichung County, for the DPP’s 24th anniversary celebration.
PHOTO: CHANG HSIEH-SHENG, TAIPEI TIMES
As party chair since May 2008, Tsai said the DPP had successfully gained back the confidence and trust of the public after a difficult 2008 at the polls.
“The first step was for us to help ourselves back up from the darkness. The second was to progress steadily toward our targets,” she said. “[Finally], we will start to win back the people’s hearts.”
Tsai told the crowd that the November polls were a “key election” and an indicator of the country’s future direction.
“We have to turn our country back onto the direct path and give our next generation a better future,” she said. “Everybody should ask themselves whether we can all lead a better life.”
With just 60 days left before the special municipality elections, other DPP candidates at the party’s annual celebration encouraged supporters to reject President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The gathering took on a festive atmosphere with the speeches frequently interrupted by clapping and cheering.
The crowd roared with support especially for Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the DPP’s candidate for mayor of the soon-to-be-established Greater Taichung.
Su has seen a resurgence in electoral surveys recently, boosted by growing name-recognition among Taichung voters as well as voter displeasure with the incumbent administration because of a crime spree in the city earlier this year.
“After nine years of the KMT in Taichung, it’s time to give me a chance,” he said. “I can fix this city’s public safety problems … and give Taichung residents a better life.”
Other candidates, including Greater Tainan candidate William Lai (賴清德) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) from Taipei City, also spoke to the crowd, saying that it was time for a change.
“Tsai and Su Tseng-chang gave up their presidential [ambitions] for this change,” Lai said in reference to speculation that the two were formerly the DPP’s frontrunners for the 2012 presidential nomination.
Su Tseng-chang also said the opposition party had learned from their previous electoral defeats.
“We did some [soul-searching] about why the Taiwanese people … gave up on us and where we went wrong,” Su Tseng-chang said. “Otherwise, how would we become better and have the public support us?”
Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) canceled her scheduled appearance at the event after Kaohsiung was flooded by Typhoon Fanapi earlier this month.
The special municipality elections will be held in Taipei City, Sinbei City, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.
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