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Majority believe Lee
indictment a political move: poll
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
A majority of respondents in a recent survey said the timing of the indictment
of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on corruption charges last week was
politically motivated.
However, some respondents to the poll conducted by the Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) also said that if Lee were found guilty — which would make him the
second democratically elected president to go to prison — it could have an
impact on their support for DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in the
January election.
CONTRARY
The responses somewhat contradicted comments by DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai
(陳其邁) that downplayed the impact of the indictment on the January elections.
Chen said the impact on Tsai’s prospects were difficult to analyze given the
razor-thin margin between her and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking
re-election, in recent media polls.
“The entire incident is still taking shape and it is not yet clear whether it
will result in any sort of decisive implications for Tsai,” Chen said.
The poll showed that overall, 5.3 percent of respondents believed that support
for Tsai would take a hit if Lee were found guilty, given the close relations
between the two. More significantly, however, a breakdown by supporters showed
that 82.1 percent of pan-blue voters said Tsai would not be affected if Lee were
found guilty.
The former president, a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, is also
the spiritual leader of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which maintains close
relations with the DPP. Lee has endorsed Tsai’s bid for president.
TIMING
The DPP survey, conducted on Friday and Monday, shows that 52 percent of
respondents and 78.3 percent from self-professed Tsai supporters believed the
indictment was timed to affect the elections.
Lee was charged last month with siphoning US$7.8 million from secret diplomatic
funds to establish a private think tank when he was in office between 1988 and
2000. He has maintained his innocence, calling the allegations baseless.
The DPP survey polled 1,028 voters and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
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