While Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) recalls his eight years as Taipei mayor, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been missing those good old days during the eight years of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) rule. If the TPP and the KMT do not cooperate, neither can win the presidential election in January. They are hypnotized by the public opinion polls supporting a power transfer, hoping to join hands with their political rivals just to gain power.
Ko and his mother regard New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the KMT’s presidential candidate, to be no more than a policeman-turned-politician and less knowledgeable than Ko. Ko is the man who loves touting his high IQ. How could he serve as Hou’s running mate?
The KMT regard the TPP as a upstart that cannot be compared to its more than a century of history. How could Hou serve as Ko’s running mate?
Still, in their minds, a “blue-white (KMT-TPP)” ticket would be a “winning move.” Although it is a “risky move,” if they do not play the game this way, they are sure to lose. However, will there be a backlash from their supporters if they were to cooperate with each other for power?
Rumor has it that if a Ko-Hou ticket is formed and elected, the KMT would appoint the premier and form the Cabinet for the first term. If the KMT and TPP can win more than half of the legislative seats, a KMT lawmaker would serve as the legislative speaker. Who would not be drooling over the chance of acquiring such power?
Unfortunately for them, Article 84 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) states: “Anyone who makes a candidate or a person qualified for a candidate agree to abandon the campaign or to perform certain campaign activities by asking for expected promises or delivering bribes or other undue benefits to the aforesaid party shall be imprisoned and fined.”
Do Ko and Hou think that judges and prosecutors are dummies? If someone makes a presidential hopeful a running mate by secretly promising them to be the one to appoint the premier or legislative speaker, they can hardly conceal the secret. It is a classic example of a “quid pro quo” arrangement.
We should not look at today’s judiciary with the party-state mentality of the past: former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as well as Ma were all prosecuted.
If Ko and Hou test the law in the election, will both of them be detained, resulting in an electoral duel between Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate, and Terry Gou (郭台銘)? Let us wait and see as the election drama unfolds.
Chuang Sheng-rong is a lawyer.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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