The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it was readying itself ahead of what it expects will be substantial gains in the upcoming legislative and presidential elections.
In clear signs the DPP believes this year will be a resurgent year, party politicians have scrambled to announce legislative bids, even in Taipei City, where it failed to pick up a single seat in 2008.
Those ambitions received a shot in the arm yesterday when DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the DPP was crafting policies to be “ready” if the party re-entered the Presidential Office next year.
Photo: Wang Han-ping, Taipei Times
The 10-year “master plan” the DPP has been working on and the two think tanks it recently established will connect the party’s eight years of administration from 2000 to 2008 to “when it runs government again,” Tsai said.
Tsai and other party officials met representatives from the biotechnology sector in Greater Tainan, calling it an area where the former DPP administration made important breakthroughs.
“It was a very important and successful plan, but we want to understand how we can make this industry even stronger and help it expand further,” said Tsai, calling it an indication that the DPP was ready to tackle Taiwan’s economic issues.
In the past month, DPP politicians have also floated new ideas on how cross-strait ties should be conducted.
DPP politicians hope the party will win a majority of seats in the next legislature, spurred by public concerns over cross-strait ties and a long list of economic woes, including growing income disparities and stagnating wages.
In 2008, the DPP took 27 of the 113 seats in the legislature.
It hopes to win two more in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan — both DPP strongholds — in Saturday’s by-elections.
However, even in Taipei City, there is optimism that the DPP could pick up seats in central and northern districts as well as several more in New Taipei City (新北市), where it only took two seats in 2008 when it was known as Taipei County.
Former DPP legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) yesterday announced his candidacy in the Shilin-Beitou electoral district, putting his name in an already packed field that includes another former lawmaker and a former Cabinet spokesperson.
“We could even see more candidates such as [former DPP Legislator] Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉),” said former DPP legislator Julian Kuo (郭正亮), another candidate in the riding.
The DPP has set a deadline for Saturday next week for potential legislative candidates to finish filling out their paperwork for nominations.
It expects to complete a final list of legislative candidates by the middle of next month.
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