A number of senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians yesterday continued to criticize the party’s plan to revise its nomination process.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) emphasized that eliminating the member vote as part of the DPP nomination process would “weaken” party unity and shut out party members.
“Basing the nominations entirely on public polls is a departure from this party’s ideals and further distances the DPP from its grassroots supporters,” said Lu, a member of the party’s Central Executive Committee.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Her comments came even as most other senior officials in the party expressed support for the idea over the past week, saying that it is necessary to avoid party divisions in the nomination phase. DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is also believed to support the move.
Previously, contenders for the legislative, presidential and local elections mobilized supporters to give them an advantage in party member polls, which accounted for about a third of the nomination criteria, officials said.
Another issue that concerned party officials was the prevalence of “proxy members,” individuals signed up by DPP contenders solely for the purpose of influencing the final vote.
Lu, however, said that instead of addressing these problems, the DPP proposal, set to be ratified next Saturday, chooses to ignore them. She said she did not believe that the DPP could simply “cover up these issues by not dealing with them.”
“If we can’t even handle the problems we have with the tens of thousands of party members, how can we expect our candidates to deal with the problems faced by the 23 million Taiwanese nationwide?” she asked at a press conference yesterday.
Lu said that it was the elimination of the party member vote during the special municipality elections last year that caused then-Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) to resign his party membership and run as an independent in the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral race.
The public polls “marginalized” Yang and ultimately led to an unfair showdown against Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), according to Lu.
Lu’s remarks, made alongside other vocal opponents of the move, DPP Central Standing Committee member Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) and former presidential advisor Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏), are the latest attempt to play up criticism before the party’s congress next Saturday.
Both plans — the proposal to eliminate the party member vote proposed by the central executive committee and Lu’s bid to maintain the status quo — will be put to a vote of party delegates when they meet as part of the congress.
A task force commissioned by the party and led by DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) recommended the move, in the belief that party unity will play a key role in the legislative elections later this year and the presidential polls next year.
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