Tue, Dec 27, 2005 page3

• DPP plays down furor over Chen

  • By Jewel Huang and Chiu Yu-tzu / STAFF REPORTERS
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  In response to a furor over a request that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) drop out of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), party officials yesterday said that it was the opinion of an individual member and that an emotional reaction would not be helpful to party reform.

  Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), former director of the DPP's Ilan County chapter, sent a letter to Chen Shui-bian to ask him to immediately withdraw from the party to take responsibility for the DPP's debacle in the elections held on Dec. 3, attributing his failure in the Ilan mayoral election to the president's performance.

  "We can understand that Chen Ou-po is frustrated over his defeat in the Ilan mayoral election, but he cannot vent his unhappiness to the president and even ask the president to withdraw from the party. We don't think this is appropriate or rational [behavior]," DPP secretary-general Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said yesterday.

  

  President Chen Shui-bian, second left, and Vice President Annette Lu, second right, yesterday shake hands with guests at the establishment of a disaster prevention center launched by the Democratic Pacific Union. Lu, who is also acting DPP chairperson, yesterday said that none of the DPP's local branches had requested that the president withdraw from the party.

  PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUN, TAIPEI TIMES

  Lee said the DPP needs to integrate opinions from all circles and make a comeback in the next elections.

  It is by no means a plus to focus on any individual for the DPP's development, he said.

  DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said that the party's election failure had many causes and no single factor was to blame.

  Cheng said he would suggest that party members adopt a calm attitude to determine the real cause.

  "Emotional remarks will not help us out of predicaments and blaming others or a specific person will only blur the focus of the whole problem," Cheng said.

  Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said that the DPP's local branches had not asked President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to withdraw from the party.

  "They just suggested that the president should be detached from party affairs," Lu said.

  Lu, who is also serving as DPP acting chairperson, said that the co-existence of different opinions within the party was normal because the DPP is democratic.

  Since the DPP performed poorly in the local elections earlier this month, suggestions and complaints from all of the party's local branches have been flowing into party headquarters and the Presidential Office.

  Many party members said the president should learn how to keep quiet when the party is in trouble.

  Tomorrow, representatives of the local branches will convene a meeting in Nantou County to express their opinions about party reform in detail.

  Lu said that she would unable to attend the meeting but would definitely be briefed on the meeting's proceedings.

  "The 19-year-old DPP is energetic. It will keep walking on after a setback," Lu said.
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