Taiwan Opposition Wins Vote by Landslide

by Jordan Yerman | January 12, 2008 at 11:51 am

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Taiwanese voters have swept the ruling party out of office, apparently unhappy about Taiwan's edgy relationship with China, as well as its current economic situation.

Taiwan's main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) thrashed the ruling DPP in legislative elections on Saturday, strengthening its bid to recapture the presidency in March and heralding better relations with China.

With all the votes counted, the KMT had won 81 seats in the 113-member parliament, or 72 percent, according to the Central Election Commission. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party won just 27 seats, or 24 percent, the rest going to other parties.

Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party won a landslide victory in legislative elections Saturday, dealing a humiliating blow to the government's hardline China policies two months before a presidential poll.

President Chen Shui-bian, who has been criticized for aggravating relations with China by promoting policies to formalize Taiwan's de facto independence, resigned as chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party immediately after the extent of the defeat became clear.

"I should shoulder all responsibilities," Chen said. "I feel really apologetic and shamed."

Critics say Chen's policies have allowed Taiwan's once vibrant economy to lose competitiveness and ratcheted up tension in the perennially edgy Taiwan Strait. Washington has made it clear it finds Chen's China policies dangerous and provocative — particularly a planned referendum on Taiwanese membership in the United Nations, which appears designed to underscore the island's political separateness from the mainland.

Taiwan's legislature is about to be cut in half. People across the island are voting for the first time since the structure of the legislature was revamped. The elections are also seen as a possible preview of the presidential contest in March. Andrew Ryan has more from Taipei.

[q
url="http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZyaEPexe7WbtSZlnN3R4K39RbeA"]Washington
has made it clear it finds Chen's policies toward Beijing dangerous and
provocative -- particularly a planned referendum on Taiwanese
membership in the United Nations, which appears designed to underscore
the self-governing, democratic island's political separateness from the
communist mainland.

A presidential election on March 22 to chose a successor to Chen,
who must step down after eight years in office, pits Frank Hsieh of
Chen's DPP against the Nationalists' Ma Ying-jeou. Recent opinion polls
give Ma a 20-point lead, and Saturday's win by his party is likely to
give a further boost to Ma, a former mayor of the island's capital,
Taipei.

If the Nationalists recapture the presidency, they will be in a
strong position to end years of deadlock between Taiwan's legislative
and executive arms, and to stabilise the island's rocky relations with
China.

China's government did not immediately react to the election
results, but was likely to be comforted by the Nationalist victory.[/q]

[q
url="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2008/01/13/2003396944"]The
results of the first elections under the new single-member district,
two-vote system grant the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) new
legislative powers that should unnerve advocates of Taiwanese democracy.

A combination of structural change, poor campaign strategy by the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and growing dissatisfaction from
voters in nominally safe DPP seats killed the party's hopes to protect
the legislature from a two-thirds majority for the KMT.

The remaining two months of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) term
will be encumbered by a legislature that will be even more hostile to
him, and this may have a powerful effect on the electability of DPP
presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).

Changes to the electoral system did not benefit the DPP at all,
instead proving a boon to the KMT with its superior organizational
skills on the ground.

The interesting thing is that the DPP achieved a higher proportion
of the district vote (38.17 percent) than in legislative elections four
years ago, when it received 35.7 percent of the vote. Its party
proportional vote was also marginally higher -- at 36.91 percent. The
main reasons for the KMT's landslide victory are instead the
distributive nature of the new system and how it forced KMT-aligned
local factions to cooperate with one another.[/q]