President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will meet Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators today in his role as party chairman.
The meeting had been planned for last Tuesday but was postponed after the legislative session, which was due to go into recess on Jan. 1 — was extended until tomorrow.
The meeting comes just two days after the KMT lost three legislative by-elections.
KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) said yesterday that defeat would become a habit if the party continued to field candidates who are ill-prepared.
Chou said voters want to see a “responsible” KMT leadership capable of nurturing a “winning” environment for the party and getting KMT supporters out to vote.
He said he would suggest to Ma that the KMT leadership decide as soon as possible on its nominees for December’s mayoral elections in five special municipalities because the sooner preparations begin, the better.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) agrees with Chou.
“The KMT should immediately stop the bleeding to prevent a domino effect from occurring,” Lai said.
The KMT has suffered a series of defeat in local elections since March, except for the wins in the legislative by-election for Taipei’s Da-an District (大安) that same month and Nantou County legislative by-election last month.
The Nantou seat was left open when Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) was appointed premier in September.
The Da-an District election was held after then-KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) resigned in January over a dual-citizenship controversy.
Independent candidate Kang Shih-ju (康世儒) also narrowly won the Miaoli by-election in March, beating Chen Luan-ying (陳鑾英), the wife of then-KMT legislator Lee E-tin (李乙廷), whose lawmaker status was annulled after he was found guilty of vote-buying.
Miaoli is viewed as a pan-blue stronghold and the DPP did not have a candidate in that election.
The KMT also lost September’s Yunlin by-election.
During the “three-in-one” local elections last month, the KMT clinched 12 of the 17 counties and cities in the county commissioner and mayoral elections, but only garnered 47.88 percent of the total votes, a drop of 2 percent from the 2005 elections.
The DPP won in four areas and received 45.32 percent of the total ballots, a 7.2 percent increase.
Noting that Saturday’s legislative by-elections were held because of vote-buying and interest-trading allegations, Lai said he would suggest Ma accelerate party reforms and weed out the deeply rooted practice of vote-buying to demonstrate the KMT’s resolve to win future elections, beginning with legislative by-elections scheduled for Feb. 27 in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Hualin and Chiayi counties.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said yesterday the government should strengthen efforts to get its policies across to the public and improve its communication with the legislature before and during the policy-making process.
She also held Ma responsible for the party’s defeat.
“The president should take the responsibility and determine if the public has lost confidence in his policies,” Lo said.
At a separate setting yesterday, however, KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) was not apologetic about Saturday’s losses.
He said the KMT would unite the pan-blue forces and focus on winning next month’s elections.
“The KMT has no reason to be frustrated [about the by-election results],” King said.
“We should be steadfast and gain courage from the setback,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND CNA
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