The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been advised by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to reverse a recent slide in public opinion polls by becoming assertive and aggressive, which he said would help the party’s prospects of victory in next year’s presidential election.
“The struggle of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in recent polls should serve as a warning about her campaign strategy,” Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year jail sentence for corruption and money laundering, wrote in an article published yesterday.
In opinion polls conducted by the DPP, Tsai’s lead over her main opponent in January’s presidential election, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), slid from 7.5 percent in late April to 0.2 percent last month
Chen praised Tsai for attracting more support than Ma in the 30-to-39 age group, an unprecedented achievement for a DPP presidential candidate, her “nuclear-free homeland” policy and her plan to include a property transaction tax as part of a tax reform proposal.
“Being an agenda setter who is not afraid of controversy is the right thing to do,” Chen said, adding that Tsai’s campaign should organize large rallies throughout the nation to “heat up” the atmosphere of the presidential race.
Chen said Tsai is still capable of winning and the outcome of the January election would be similar to that of the 2004 presidential election, with the DPP losing by a small margin in the north, while winning big in the south.
The central part of the country would be the final battleground, Chen added.
Chen questioned People First Party Chairman James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) possible impact on the election, saying that Soong, whose popularity and support ratings have surged recently to a reported double-digit range, would eventually be marginalized if he declared himself a presidential candidate.
“If Soong’s impact is more of a threat to Tsai than Ma, as the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] says, then the KMT should have encouraged Soong to enter the race, not tried to dissuade him from running,” Chen said.
DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the former president’s opinions were welcomed, without elaborating.
Tsai campaign plans to hold three large rallies in northern, central and southern Taiwan next month, as well as to celebrate the party’s anniversary.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
A Japanese space rocket carrying a Taiwanese satellite blasted off yesterday, but was later seen spiraling downward in the distance as the company said the launch attempt had failed. It was the second attempt by the Japanese start-up Space One to become the country’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit, after its first try in March ended in a mid-air explosion. This time, its solid-fuel Kairos rocket had been carrying five satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency and others designed by Japanese students and corporate ventures. Spectators gathered near the company’s coastal Spaceport Kii launch pad in Japan’s
RSS