The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) losses in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday were mainly caused by widespread dissatisfaction with its domestic policies, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and academics said at a conference in Taipei yesterday.
The losses could be attributed to its problematic “middle-ground” approach to a wide range of issues from diplomacy and same-sex marriage to labor law reform, Lo told the conference.
For example, the DPP’s hesitation to follow through with legislation on same-sex marriage has drawn ire from young voters, who blame the party for “not being progressive enough,” while older voters oppose such legislation, he said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“The party thought it was taking care of everyone, but ended up offending both sides,” he said.
While the DPP had expected to lose some races, the scope and extent of its losses were beyond what it had anticipated, Lo said.
“The DPP was defeated by itself, not the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The KMT had no role in it. Kaohsiung mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) even had to avoid being associated with the KMT during campaigning. Our opponent was ourselves in the past two years and the progressive values we championed,” he said.
The DPP promoted the right reforms in wrong ways and at the wrong time, he said, adding that it had taken on too much at once.
The 10 referendums held alongside the elections also had a negative effect on the results, he said.
“The KMT used the referendums to mobilize its supporters. However, the ruling party demobilized its supporters by not expressing its stance on the referendums, as it was worried about maintaining government neutrality,” he said.
National Dong Hwa University professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) agreed said that numerous reforms in only two years had led to dissatisfaction among voters.
“The pension reforms were done poorly. The DPP clearly thought pensioners, who are typically KMT supporters, would not vote for them anyway,” Shih said.
National Chung Cheng University College of Social Sciences dean Soong Hseik-wen (宋學文) said reforms is necessary, but problems arose because they were promoted at the same time.
“Reforming the pension system, labor laws and energy laws made sense, and were even necessary, but dealing with them all at the same time caused problems. In addition, there were questions about how to promote them,” Soong said.
“The government did improve the economy, as data showed, but as with the reforms, the benefits from major policies were not immediately apparent,” he said. “There is usually a time lag,” he said.
However, the government should not radically adjust its policy direction just because of the election results, he said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS