A group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) young turks will propose a party reform plan this week, Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said after resigning as the party's deputy secretary-general yesterday.
Tuan said the group would review and reflect on three key issues: national identity, the party's core values and its nomination system.
DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) suffered a crushing defeat in the March 22 presidential election -- the latest in a string of electoral failures that included the Jan. 12 legislative election and the local government poll in December 2005.
The party's Central Executive Committee on Thursday established a task force composed of party members who had served as secretary-general of the 21-year-old party to review the party's policy.
Tuan said yesterday that pro-localization should not be the only distinction between the DPP and other parties and should not be used as a tool to attack fellow party members.
He said that the party should seek to regain the public's trust that it would put its core values into practice if it returns to power and would end abuses of the party's nomination system.
Joining Tuan were Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (
At a separate setting yesterday, Hsieh dismissed a Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) report that said his decision to retract his resignation as party chairman had angered President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who wanted Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) to take over as acting chairman.
Hsieh on Friday withdrew his resignation, which he had tendered earlier last week following his election defeat. He agreed to stay until a new chairman is elected in May.
The paper quoted an anonymous source from the Presidential Office as saying that Hsieh initially agreed that Chang should take over as acting chairman.
"What newspapers said is not necessarily the truth," Hsieh said.
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