The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) could grow and gain more legislative seats this year after the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) victory in the presi-dential election, academics and a TSU spokesman said yesterday.
The TSU said the green camp's victory yesterday meant that native consciousness was on the rise, and that with this rise, the TSU would grow and deliver an outstanding performance in the legislative election at the end of the year.
TSU Secretary General Lin Chih-chia (
"As the green camp's territory expands, it is advantageous to both the DPP and the TSU. The TSU and the DPP will adopt a cooperative mode and split the territory between them," Lin said.
"Yesterday's election was also the victory of a nativizing consciousness, and it is becoming Taiwan's mainstream consciousness too. Someday we will get 70 to 80 percent of the ballot," he said.
TSU caucus whip Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) was also confident that the TSU would make gains in the legislative election and declared the party's ambition to double its seats.
"The green camp improved from getting under 40 percent of the vote in 2000 to over 50 percent this year, and although the victory yesterday was only by a small margin, it is actually a great victory for the green camp," Chen said.
"The pan-blue camp lost the election yesterday, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is likely to split again like it did back in 2000. The pro-Taiwan politicians within the KMT might choose to defect to the TSU," he said.
"We aim to double our seats in the legislature in the election this year, and the rise of Taiwan's nativized consciousness is the TSU's best weapon in this endeavor," he said.
Ku Chung-hwa (
"The KMT is likely to split again, and since [former president] Lee Teng-hui (
Ku also said that the TSU would likely attract more pro-independence elements from the DPP.
Hsu Yung-ming (
"The DPP, having won the election, will move to the center, with the TSU concentrating on the name-rectifying campaign," he said.
"The green camp's territory has expanded, and there is room now for the TSU's continued existence. I believe that both the DPP and the TSU will gain more legislative seats this year," he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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