With the goal of taking the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) back to the Presidential Office in 2020, KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) reorganization of party members throughout Taiwan into “cells” of 20 to 30 people, akin to the KMT’s traditional methods, is to have its efficacy tested in the upcoming local elections.
In its early days, the KMT had more than 10,000 local cells that it could mobilize, on top of pork-barrel members with influence, allowing it to gain a vast number of votes rapidly.
In urban areas, cell members will be chosen from different neighborhoods, while those in rural townships will comprise notable individuals in villages or boroughs, the KMT said.
All 80,000 party members, including Wu, are part of a cell, or a group, the party said.
All cell leaders will have to undergo mandatory training at the party’s Institute for the Revolution’s Realization in separate groups after the Lunar New Year holiday, the party said.
Group leaders are required to be proficient in the use of modern technological devices as well as the messaging app Line, as every cell would have a Line group, the source said.
The duties of group leaders include informing local party members of party activities, spreading knowledge of the KMT to the public, promoting the party’s policies and political ideologies, helping local KMT chapters carry out propaganda, and mobilizing their cell to help the election of officials within their boroughs or villages, the party said.
Non-election duties of the cells include conveying complaints and suggestions of local residents to party members with an official capacity, the KMT said.
The reorganization falls short of a pledge that Wu made during the KMT chairmanship race, because he made the promise based on figures that he remembered from his time as the KMT secretary-general, a party source said.
A decline in party membership, relocation of original group leaders and loss of function in some original cells were also responsible for the decline in the reorganized groups, the source said.
The reorganization aims at leaner groups with solid cores, the source said, adding that the KMT is willing to sacrifice quantity to preserve quality.
However, the party is willing to expand the cells while retaining their tenets, they said.
The institute is to hold seminars across the nation and if it finds passionate party members, it will mention them to the Organization and Development Department, which might then offer them the opportunity to become the head of a group, the source said.
The party has begun presenting designated group leaders with official certificates and plans for the reorganized system to be up and running for the elections to be held after July, the party said.
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