As the KMT set ups a special reform committee after its unprecedented loss in the presidential elections, voices inside and outside the party appear anything but unified on how such reforms should proceed.
KMT provincial party chairman Chen Keng-chin (
With the downsizing of the provincial government, there is no need for the KMT's provincial-level organization, said Chen.
Instead, he said, the KMT should strengthen party organizations at the county and township level and bolster grassroots support for the party.
There have been a number of calls for reduction in the KMT's organizational structure, but they have gone unheeded, said Chen. If the elections for National Assembly delegates are cancelled, the KMT should be able to abolish the provincial party headquarters within months, he said.
If the assembly elections -- scheduled for May 20 -- are not cancelled, then the KMT will be hard pressed to liquidate the provincial party machinery in the face of pressures to field candidates for the elections, said Chen.
Speaking on a TV talk show yesterday, National Taiwan University political scientist Pao Tsung-ho (
Meaningful party reform must include democratic processes within the party and greater attention towards public opinion, said Pao.
The KMT should first take stock of its members, set a timetable for adopting democratic internal methods, and then hold elections for the party chairman and other party posts, stressed Pao.
Not so, countered KMT legislator Chen Shei-saint (
The KMT should first place its assets in a trust and then institute democratic methods within the party, said Chen.
But the KMT should stop short of a party purge.
"Those who should have left have already done so," said Chen.
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