In the final month before the special municipality elections, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians are scrambling to convince voters to pick them over Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates on Nov. 27.
In Taipei City’s central market yesterday morning, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who doubles as the party’s mayoral candidate for Sinbei City, Taipei County’s new name once it is upgraded, shook hands with fish merchants, asking them to support her in the tight race with KMT candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫).
“There’s no shortcut for this,” Tsai said speaking during her morning of campaigning in traditional markets, some as early as 5am. “We need to go where the people are, meet with them and see what they think of me.”
For the DPP, at stake in the elections next month is not just the mayoral post in five of Taiwan’s largest cities, but a display that will prove to the public that it has returned as a powerful political force. An impressive result next month could firmly plant the DPP within reach of the 2012 presidential elections.
While polls show the opposition party to be firmly in the lead in the greater Tainan and greater Kao-hsiung regions, areas that have traditionally voted for the pan-greens, it is Taipei City and Taipei County where the real battles are being fought. For the first time since former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) took the Taipei City mayoralty in 1994, DPP candidates are facing a real prospect of winning in the two pan-blue strongholds.
“What we need is that critical 3 percent,” said DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), speaking about party polls that showed Tsai and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the DPP’s Taipei mayoral candidate, in a dead heat with their KMT counterparts. “It will make the difference.”
Currently, unpublished internal polls by the DPP suggest that Su holds a small lead over Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), thanks to the recent controversy surrounding the upcoming Taipei International Flora Expo. The lead, however, is still within the survey’s margin of error.
In Taipei County, the DPP claims that both Tsai and Chu are locked in a virtual tie with a difference of less than 1 percent. An addition of 3 percent to Tsai’s support would alleviate some of the pressure on her campaign, Lin said.
“We see our election prospects in greater Tainan and greater Kaohsiung as stable,” the spokesperson said, echoing earlier comments by DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) that the two cities were “as good as won.”
“But if we can get three more percentage points in Taipei City, it will start to widen our lead. In Sinbei City, another 3 percent for Tsai will change the current stalemate,” Lin said.
Any wins in those two cities would mark a victory for the DPP, according to prior statements made by party officials.
The black sheep of the party is in the greater Taichung area, where polls have consistently shown DPP candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), who resigned from his post as DPP secretary-general to battle Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the KMT, to be trailing in the double digits.
Lin said yesterday that the party had not given up hope. The latest surveys, he said, suggest Hu’s lead over the DPP candidate has shortened to 8 percent.
“Lately, we’ve been seeing an improvement because of Su’s hard work creating a grassroots movement,” he said. “Shortening the lead to 5 percent will give us a chance ... for a turnover in Taichung.”
Apart from relying on just optimism and hard work, the DPP is currently planning a final election push that would ask candidates to redouble their efforts.
It plans to launch three more television advertisements in the next month that would ask voters to “spread the word.”
The last ad, expected to be released nationwide in the week before the elections, will feature all five DPP candidates standing together. The commercial, Lin suggested, will replace plans to hold a joint stage event.
“The final 30 days will be about raising our momentum. We want our supporters to be able to tell their family and friends about us,” Lin said. “In addition, our candidates should also be asking for votes not only for themselves, but for the other four nominees as well.”
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