Three months from now Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) secretary--general and chief election strategist, imagines he will either be on a leisurely cruise through Europe or traveling across Taiwan.
Announcing his retirement from the position for the third time — this time “for real,” he says — it was made clear that the 62-year-old does not see himself fighting another election battle.
Next month’s special municipality elections, he said, would be his last.
“I’m not getting any younger and the DPP can’t expect [me] to continue standing on the front line,” Wu said at a media briefing clad in his trademark gray dress shirt and chain-smoking cigarettes.
The Keelung native, who holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, first took the role under former DPP chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) on May 20, 2000.
His status in the party was confirmed the next year when the DPP received the most votes for the very first time in the 2001 legislative elections. That election, which he oversaw, eventually had DPP circles calling him “Elder Wu,” in reference to his prominent role in the DPP.
He returned for seven more months in May last year, just enough to time to lead the DPP to victory in a legislative by--election in Yunlin County and then the local elections in December. Despite only winning four of 17 seats, the opposition party exceeded expectations and took 45 percent of the popular vote against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) 48 percent.
Most recently, persuaded by Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to take the post again in May this year, Tsai half-jokingly told reporters, the party has high hopes that Wu would be able to replicate his prior election successes.
So far it seems to be working. Polls suggest that the DPP has maintained a strong foothold in the south and is locked in two tight matches in the north, an area that has traditionally voted for the KMT lines.
“I can say that we will definitely win in the two southern cities,” Wu said, speaking on the DPP’s -prospects in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan. “This is the current election trend and it’s become more and more clear.”
In Taipei City, he suggested that the DPP mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was close to achieving what no DPP politician had achieved since former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who served as city mayor between 1994 and 1998.
“The voter demographics in Taipei City are perhaps the most unfavorable to us in the whole country.” Wu said. “Both the DPP and … Su are doing the best we can under these circumstances.”
He also maintains that his predecessor, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), who left the post to vie run for the position of Greater Taichung mayor, also has a fighting chance to overtake his opponent, Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), by November.
Of the five seats, the DPP hopes to win at least three next month; a move that Wu conceded would require considerable effort from party candidates.
However, it seems that the thrill of winning may not be enough of a draw for him to stay in politics.
“There won’t be any more politics for me after this. I’m getting too old and my health is not what it used to be,” he added. “What happens in the future and the 2012 presidential elections is someone else’s problem now.”
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