The election for the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) chairperson will not simply be a case of choosing a new DPP leader; it will also be a cut-throat war between DPP factions, who are eager to gain dominance, political analysts said yesterday.
Since Dec. 3, the day that the DPP suffered an unprecedented election debacle in local elections, accusations and self-justification thrown back and forth among different party factions have not ceased. Although everyone in the DPP -- from President Chen Shui-bian (
"Whether the by-election will be a starting point for the DPP's revamp or just a process of unseating someone is my question now," said Chiang Ming-chin (
"I think this by-election will be a sequel to the competition between the DPP's internal factions," Chiang said, pointing out that the candidates running for DPP chair represent different powers within the party.
The three DPP members vying for the post -- former Presidential Office secretary-general Yu Shyi-kun, pro-independence veteran and Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) and former Changhua County commissioner Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) -- have already begun their campaigns.
Wong obtained former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung's (
Although Yu yesterday said in a television interview that the president has not intervened in the campaign and that the election is not an "anti-Chen or pro-Chen" war, political analysts said that Yu's words were opposite to the real situation.
"The by-election is virtually a war between the anti-Chen and pro-Chen powers," political analyst Hsu Yung-ming (
Hsu said that Yu's victory would ensure Chen's power in the DPP, enabling him to retain influence on the political situation even as his presidential term comes to an end.
"The new DPP chairperson will have the right to make the nominations for the 2007 legislative elections and the person who has influence over the legislature or has the say over who to work with will be the person with the real the power," Hsu said.
Each DPP faction is also eyeing the 2008 presidential candidacy, and the chairmanship election will be the first round in that game.
The DPP has about 530,000 members, but only about 230,000 will be eligible to vote in next month's by-election.
According to DPP estimates, the voting rate will be about 40 percent and close to 90,000 members are expected to vote on Jan. 15.
In other words, the candidate who gains more than 50,000 votes will become the new chairperson.
So far, unlike Yu and Chai's active campaign strategies, Wong is taking a more low-key approach to promoting herself.
Wong began visiting local chapters and members on Monday, and over the next few weeks she will talk to social groups and party members belonging to minority groups, according to Wong's assistant Wu Jui-yuan (
"How Lin campaigns for Wong or what he says during the last few days [of the campaign] will be a key to the result," Chiang said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS