In view of the combined presidential and legislative elections on Saturday, an assessment from the pan-blue camp posits that using the presidential candidate to boost the election chances of legislative candidates from the same party is an important strategy.
However, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who is seeking re-election, seems to have gone a different way from the KMT legislative candidates. This comes amid talk of alleged discontent with the Ma administration’s performance and his campaign’s emphasis on the presidential election over the legislative polls.
The KMT’s guiding principle of “Ma First” can clearly be seen in Hualien, Taitung and the outlying islands, where pan-blue candidates are participating in the legislative elections against the wishes of the party central and caused fractures within the KMT.
In Taitung County, the KMT’s party central had attempted to persuade KMT-nominated legislative candidate Rao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) to back out of the elections after KMT internal polls were held. Even Legislative Spekaer Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was dispatched to persuade her after independent candidate Wu Chun-li (吳俊立) announced his wish to run for the county’s lone legislative seat.
When negotiations failed after Rao insisted on participating in the elections, the first campaign event Wang attended was for Wu and not for Rao.
Observers said this happened because the Ma faction in the KMT, to which Rao belonged, felt that she should take into account the whole picture and since Ma would need votes for his presidential bid no matter which side won, the Ma faction made the decision not to alienate anyone. This included sending Wang to stump for Wu as a “favor.”
On the other hand, others have said that there have been other legislative candidates who have been trying to avoid Ma early in the campaign period, especially in central and southern Taiwan, where Ma’s political achievements have been perceived as minor, even prior to Ma’s insistence on not raising elderly farmers’ monthly subsidies by NT$1,000.
According to anonymous sources, several legislative candidates in Greater Kaohsiung have cut ties with Ma, while some have told the president’s re-election campaign when Ma should go stump for them and that he needn’t appear if he was only going to canvas for them once just to “show that he got his feet wet.”
Between August and October last year, the campaign’s middle period, the KMT began subsidizing the party’s legislative candidates who put up billboards with pictures of them with Ma at NT$10,000 per sign, to a maximum of NT$100,000.
However, it was observed that legislative candidates in central and southern regions were not overly enthusiastic about the idea and even some of the more notable candidates took tens of millions in subsidies without putting up the billboards, causing Ma’s chief campaign manager to personally place telephone calls and criticize their moves.
With the campaign entering its final days in the run-up to Saturday’s elections, Ma is canvassing for votes nationwide as well as trying to boost the profiles of his party’s legislative candidates, especially in areas where progress is slowing or those that still have a chance of winning.
However, it appears that for most KMT legislative candidates, they know that the Ma campaign headquarters is still adhering to the “Ma First” principle and that they will essentially have to rely on themselves to attract votes.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
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
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS