The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) losses in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday were mainly caused by widespread dissatisfaction with its domestic policies, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and academics said at a conference in Taipei yesterday.
The losses could be attributed to its problematic “middle-ground” approach to a wide range of issues from diplomacy and same-sex marriage to labor law reform, Lo told the conference.
For example, the DPP’s hesitation to follow through with legislation on same-sex marriage has drawn ire from young voters, who blame the party for “not being progressive enough,” while older voters oppose such legislation, he said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“The party thought it was taking care of everyone, but ended up offending both sides,” he said.
While the DPP had expected to lose some races, the scope and extent of its losses were beyond what it had anticipated, Lo said.
“The DPP was defeated by itself, not the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The KMT had no role in it. Kaohsiung mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) even had to avoid being associated with the KMT during campaigning. Our opponent was ourselves in the past two years and the progressive values we championed,” he said.
The DPP promoted the right reforms in wrong ways and at the wrong time, he said, adding that it had taken on too much at once.
The 10 referendums held alongside the elections also had a negative effect on the results, he said.
“The KMT used the referendums to mobilize its supporters. However, the ruling party demobilized its supporters by not expressing its stance on the referendums, as it was worried about maintaining government neutrality,” he said.
National Dong Hwa University professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) agreed said that numerous reforms in only two years had led to dissatisfaction among voters.
“The pension reforms were done poorly. The DPP clearly thought pensioners, who are typically KMT supporters, would not vote for them anyway,” Shih said.
National Chung Cheng University College of Social Sciences dean Soong Hseik-wen (宋學文) said reforms is necessary, but problems arose because they were promoted at the same time.
“Reforming the pension system, labor laws and energy laws made sense, and were even necessary, but dealing with them all at the same time caused problems. In addition, there were questions about how to promote them,” Soong said.
“The government did improve the economy, as data showed, but as with the reforms, the benefits from major policies were not immediately apparent,” he said. “There is usually a time lag,” he said.
However, the government should not radically adjust its policy direction just because of the election results, he 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 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
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