The results of yesterday's Yunlin County commissioner by-election appeared to surprise no-one, as independent candidate Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) walked away with a victory -- albeit by a narrow margin.
While Chang singled out president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for praise -- despite being an independent candidate -- the DPP predicted the victory would give organized crime leaders encouragement to become increasingly involved in future elections in Taiwan.
The victory appeared to be a vindication for Chang Jung-wei, who lost out in the 1997 commissioner election to the KMT's Su Wen-hsiung (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
On the face of it, the defeat was humiliating for the KMT, which sent down its top brass to campaign on behalf of its candidate. Accordingly, John Chang, the party's secretary-general, announced he was prepared to tender his resignation.
After receiving news of the defeat last night, Chang visited President Lee, the party chairman, at his residence to offer his resignation.
Lee, however, rejected the offer. A statement released from the KMT spokesman's office quoted the president as saying the Yunlin by-election was local in nature, and that there "were many related influences" in the result.
The statement added Lee had urged Chang to stay on, and hoped he would "take a rest for a couple of days."
Meanwhile, the independent candidate was raising a few eyebrows down in Yunlin by singling Lee out for appreciation and praise, especially for his "promotion of democracy."
Confirming the victory around 6pm last night -- two hours after ballot-counting began -- Chang Jung-wei vowed that he would cash in all his so-called "platform checks," or campaign promises, to build up Yunlin County during his two-year period in the commissioner's post.
Speaking amid cheers and applause from supporters, with his daughter and wife present at his headquarters in Touliu, Chang was quick to credit the chairman of his former party.
"We are preparing to give Yunlin residents their dignity back. And I have to thank President Lee, because the president carried out democratic reforms and therefore gave me the opportunity to campaign in this election," he said.
Chang's spokesman, Kao Meng-ting (
At the same time, down the street about 600 meters away, DPP candidate Lin Chung-li led his campaign's staff members in a deep bow to supporters.
Bringing up the issue of vote-buying, which he had continually warned against throughout the campaign, Lin said he worried about the future of Yunlin, where the problem of gangster involvement and "money politics" would only worsen.
"Only the DPP campaigned on the basis of a `clean election with integrity.' We neither bought votes nor got involved with gangsters," Lin said. "Yet we still were beaten by `black-gold,' and I am therefore worried that organized crime groups may increase their power."
DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) and Chen Shui-bian, who both campaigned extensively for Lin, both said from the DPP's central headquarters that they were disappointed by the result -- which they said indicated Yunlin residents could not put an end to the county's "gangster" problem.
"We may not have done enough to persuade Yunlin residents to accept our platform -- to effect a shift in power and terminate the `black gold,'" Chen stressed.
Other DPP heavyweights had also campaigned extensively in the county, in what they said was an attempt to persuade local residents that if Chang Jung-wei was elected, gangster organizations might be encouraged to join other elections for the chiefs of local administrations.
"In past decades, gang leaders could only run for positions as low-level representatives such as county or city councilors, or as lawmakers. But Chang's victory can be recorded as a landmark, one that may lead organized crime leaders to compete with other politicians for county commissioner or even higher-level elections," said Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), former Taipei deputy secretary-general.
The KMT's candidate, Chang Cheng-hsiung (
Further explaining the party's poor showing, KMT officials said they suspect some factions did not throw their support behind Chang Cheng-hsiung, and even gave their support to Chang Jung-wei.
"Where did Chang Jung-wei's money and other supplies come from? They could be from factions within the KMT. The increased votes he got are from those defecting from the KMT," said Johnson Chen (陳瓊讚), director of the KMT organizational affairs department.
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