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Taiwan’s democracy is maturing
By Liu Shih-chung 劉世忠
Not surprisingly, in the final countdown to the five special municipality
elections on Nov. 27, the Taiwanese political scene has been full of negative
campaigns, smear attacks, tears, partisan talk show finger-pointing and
last-minute dirty tricks.
There is no doubt that the results of the elections will have implications for
Taiwan’s political landscape. Nevertheless, what matters most is the extent to
which party politics will evolve in the post-municipality-election era and what
aspects of policy debate the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) decide to carry over to future legislative and
presidential elections.
The number of seats and total votes that each party can garner will determine
the winner and the loser. The ruling KMT and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
administration need not only ensure the continuation of its governance of
Taipei, the soon-to-be formed Sinbei City (the upgraded Taipei County) and
Taichung, but also to avoid a further decline in votes on the heels of the
three-in-one local elections in December last year and a series of legislative
by-elections. The DPP hopes to win more seats in addition to the cities of
Kaohsiung and Tainan, and outnumber the KMT in voter turnout.
Despite old campaign practices, the voters are witnessing the emergence of a new
electoral culture and campaign style, which constitute a driving force for the
maturation of Taiwan’s political culture. For example, DPP Taipei mayoral
candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Sinbei City mayoral candidate DPP Chairperson
Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) have both introduced a non-traditional campaign style.
Faced with the reality that the KMT enjoys more vote leverage in both cities, Su
and Tsai are downplaying partisan disputes and portraying their campaigns as a
debate on governing capability.
If Su and Tsai are to win, it will signify a transformation in Taiwan’s
political culture to an institutionalized party competition that centers more on
rationality, moderation and bipartisanship. If Su or Tsai represent the DPP for
the presidential election in 2012 or 2016, they will both have the legitimacy
and the popularity to help shift the DPP’s image of a conventionally
pro-independence force to that of a responsible and responsive political party
that transcends the blue-green dichotomy in Taiwanese society. The debate over
the party’s future cross-strait policy will also be based largely on pragmatism
and take international expectations more into account.
If Su and Tsai stick to what they have advocated in the campaign and
successfully convince the middle-of-the-road voters to endorse them, Taiwanese
politics and the DPP will enter into a new phase of democratic transformation
where the voters’ decision will be based more on leadership, governing
capability and government efficiency than the issue of unification or
independence.
As the ruling power, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) has faced tremendous
pressures from Su’s moderate and non-partisan campaign strategy. The KMT also
faced a similar crisis in Sinbei City when Taipei County Commissioner Chou
Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) was ranked as the worst governor in Taiwan. To secure a win, the
KMT replaced Chou with former vice premier Eric Chu (朱立倫).
Even though the special municipality elections are local by nature, they have
been portrayed as a midterm election for Ma. He and the KMT can not afford to
lose either Taipei or Sinbei City because it will signify a vote of no
confidence in Ma’s governance.
That’s the main strategic calculation behind the KMT’s planned parade tomorrow
to rally hard-core KMT supporters. Given that most KMT supporters were reluctant
to go out and vote for the party in the previous elections, Ma and the party’s
leadership believe that the only effective way to beat Su is to utilize the
KMT’s electoral -advantage in Taipei to increase the blue camp’s voter
mobilization.
From a campaign perspective, is natural for the KMT to highlight the blue-green
division in Taipei and Sinbei cities to prevent light-blue voters from
supporting DPP candidates. Nevertheless, this serves to accelerate the
deterioration of Taiwan’s political culture along partisan lines and ethnic
divisions.
Since the KMT has controlled both the executive and legislative branches of
government since Ma took office, the KMT should take full responsibility for the
broadening of the partisan divide within Taiwanese society. Absolute governance
means absolute responsibility. It is irresponsible to blame all the faults on
the opposition DPP for what is in fact the KMT’s own poor governance.
After a decade of blue-green political wrestling, Taiwanese voters are craving
new leaders with bold and realistic agendas, coupled with the skill to
communicate and persuade. Most importantly, most voters expect a new mayor who
can deliver on his or her campaign promises and refrain from using partisan
divisions to distract from poor governance.
This is the true meaning of the special municipality elections.
Liu Shih-chung is a senior research fellow at the Taipei-based
Taiwan Brain Trust.
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