Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said he has met with party officials to discuss strategies for campaigning in “easy” and “tough” districts, as well as measures against illegal betting disrupting the outcome of the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections.
Following former Japanese representative to Taiwan Mikio Numata’s prediction that there would be a margin of victory of 5 percentage points or less in the presidential race, Cho called an emergency meeting with DPP Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), and DPP deputy secretaries-general Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Kuo Kun-wen (郭昆文), Cho said in Hsinchu, where a DPP Central Standing Committee meeting was being held.
They discussed whether the party had neglected districts in which the election outlook was “optimistic” for the DPP, as well as ways to strengthen its campaign in those districts if needed, he said.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
In tougher districts, they discussed whether the party had taken the wrong approach and whether it needed to re-evaluate the channels it was using to mobilize supporters, he said.
In the final stages before the elections, there would definitely be districts where the race would be tight, he said.
In those districts, the DPP must have a more precise strategy, he said.
These are the areas that the DPP is working on, he said, but added that he could not reveal details.
While he was campaigning for DPP legislative candidate Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬), a woman told him not to be “too relaxed” about the elections, Cho said, adding that her comments represent the voices of some DPP supporters.
Their voices, as well as Numata’s comments, “have aroused the DPP’s crisis awareness,” he added.
Cho called on police and prosecutors to bolster efforts to stop illegal election betting to prevent it from affecting the results.
One kind of betting, called “asymmetric,” offers unreasonable odds, Luo said.
For example, a person could win NT$1 million (US$33,111) by placing a NT$100,000 bet, he said.
This kind of betting is a stronger “driving force” than vote-buying in terms of election interference, he said.
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