Being a minority ruling party has been the DPP's biggest challenge.
Now, in an apparent attempt to resolve the problem, the party announced yesterday plans to hold a series of discussions on the feasibility of forming a coalition Cabinet -- an option the government has avoided since coming to power.
"After the election, the possibility of forming a coalition government is pretty high. It's an inevitable trend. However, the DPP needs to evaluate the complications beforehand," party secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said yesterday morning.
Wu claimed that none of the three major political parties were likely to win over half of the total legislative seats needed in order to dominate the legislature.
Wu presented the party's Central Standing Committee yesterday afternoon with a proposal to hold three seminars on April 29, May 5 and May 13 in order to coordinate the different voices on the issue within the party.
But yesterday's DPP meeting failed to reach a final decision, saying only that more discussion should take place next Wednesday before the seminars' agenda is laid out in detail.
The party's agenda includes researching ways for the DPP to maintain political stability after the elections given the fact that the party is not likely to succeed in dominating the legislature, and deciding which party or parties it should seek to cooperate with.
"In terms of ideology, the DPP is much closer to the KMT, therefore, [the party] is more likely to ally with the KMT to form a coalition government," Wu added.
Wu, moreover, said that KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
Wu's comments echo media reports that high-ranking DPP officials predicted that Lien would step down after the elections to shoulder responsibility over an electoral defeat and at that point, the party would talk to the new chairman regarding cooperation.
The remark triggered a strong reaction from KMT secretary-general Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) who said that the KMT was confident that it would make a strong showing in the year-end elections.
"The DPP is just trying to sow discord within the KMT. The party will not fall for their tricks," Lin said, urging the ruling DPP not to fool around with political tricks.
In return, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh added "if there was strong enough cooperation between opposition parties, no one would be capable of sowing any discord."
Some DPP members, however, yesterday endorsed to the concept of forming a coalition government, though there is little agreement on what such a coalition would look like.
"If the DPP allies itself with legislators of other parties to establish a stable ruling alliance [in the legislature], will that amount to a coalition government?" Standing Committee member Lawrence Gao (高志鵬) asked after yesterday's meeting, adding that more discussions were necessary to clarify the issue.
Echoing Gao's view, another Committee member Trong Chai (
He added, however, that if the party wins 90 seats, it could ally with some 30 legislators from dissaffected branches of other parties to allow for smoother legislative function.
DPP legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (
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