The selection of the KMT candidate for the Kaohsiung mayoral election has exposed the deeply undemocratic nature of the pan-blue camp.
Elections are a fact of life in a democracy. Prospective candidates start preparing their campaigns long before elections. After consulting and evaluating, they look for funding sources and a campaign staff and then register as candidates. All the rules of the game are stated in party regulations and state laws and are there to be obeyed. But the pan-blue camp's nomination of its mayoral candidate in Kao-hsiung looks distinctly fishy.
In the normal course of things, each political party adopts its own course when it comes to nominating its candidates. But the pan-blue camp wants to endorse a joint candidate without merging into a single party.
An unconventional beginning usually spawns 10 unconventional acts. First of all, when there were many KMT hopefuls competing fiercely for the nomination, the party used telephone opinion polls -- instead of a primary -- to decide on the nomination. After the poll results came out, the KMT headquarters oddly insisted on nominating Huang Jun-ying (
Meanwhile, the PFP was also acting strangely. The party kept people guessing about whether it was going to come up with its own candidate or not. Finally, it nominated PFP Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (
Neither the KMT nor the PFP took the normal democratic path because the party leaders were eager to defeat the DPP in Kaohsiung. So when former interior minister Chang Po-ya (張博雅) announced her intention to run in Kaohsiung, they saw her as their savior. They therefore planned to use another opinion poll to ditch Huang.
With everything looking like it would work like a dream, a joint contract was signed by the three candidates pledging to abide by the results of the poll. But someone violated that contract. Chang Chao-hsiung announced he was withdrawing from the race and throwing his support behind Chang Po-ya. In the meantime, the public -- who perhaps were getting tired of these shenanigans -- began to favor the disciplined Huang rather than the former interior minister, who only wanted to use the Kaohsiung race to vent her old grudges.
Chang Po-ya has been humiliated enough by her failed nomination for the vice presidency of the Examination Yuan. If she were defeated by Huang in an opinion poll, not only would she lose face in Kaohsiung, but her political career would be over. Under such circumstances, she had no choice but to break her agreement to run for the pan-blue nomination and announce her candidacy as an independent instead.
The KMT and the PFP appear determined not to admit that they failed in their cooperation efforts. At present, instead of doing any soul-searching, they are busy blaming others. The PFP vice chairman protested against the KMT's campaign activities for Huang. But he has forgotten that he himself withdrew from the race and supported Chang Po-ya. PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) vented his anger at KMT officials for ruining the cooperation, but he did not reflect on the source of the chaos, namely the decision by the KMT and the PFP leadership to support the former interior minister.
The two parties should work toward merging into a single party. If they don't wish to merge, then they should each behave like a single party. That will make Taiwan politics simpler, clearer and more refreshing.
Chen Ro-jinn is a freelance writer.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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