Voter turnout in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairmanship by-election on Sunday was only 17.59 percent.
Although Vice President William Lai (賴清德) was unopposed, he nevertheless held many public assemblies in counties and cities across Taiwan during the short campaign period to hear the opinions of party members concerning its vast losses in the local elections on Nov. 26 last year.
By listening to members’ dissatisfaction and their ideas for party reform, and demonstrating a determination to act when needed, Lai proposed improvements to party operations and discussed how it can do better. He vowed to revive the spirit and the discipline of the DPP to win back the trust of Taiwanese.
This does not mean carrying out these plans would be plain sailing.
First, DPP membership at its peak exceeded 500,000, but has dropped to about 230,000.
Second, the 17.59 percent turnout rate is lower than the 19.73 percent that voted in the 2005 DPP leadership election, in which the candidate was also unopposed.
Third, in Tainan, the area Lai originally represented, voter turnout was below the national average at 15.52 percent.
As the DPP chairman, if Lai wants to boost party morale, he must introduce drastic reforms that produce immediate results so that party members and swing voters feel that the DPP has genuinely recovered its original values of being untainted, hardworking and patriotic.
Only then might the party find itself victorious in the presidential and legislative elections next year.
Wang Chou-ming is director of the Anti-Bribery Research Office.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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