DPP eyes independent voters, seeks 50 seats

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Sunday, Jan 06, 2008, Page 3

　

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has set a goal of winning 45 to 50 seats in the new 113-member legislature, as it tries to woo independent voters in the final week of the campaign before the legislative elections on Saturday.

The new single-member district and two-vote system (單一選區兩票制) has placed the DPP at a disadvantage -- especially in aboriginal constituencies such as Hualien and Taitung counties and outlying islands -- where pan-blue supporters form the majority of the electorate, analysts said.

DPP officials said the party would emphasize non-political issues in the final week of the campaign to appeal to an estimated 30 percent of voters who remain undecided, highlighting the DPP's image as an advocate for the disadvantaged, native culture, systematic reform and progress and democracy.

In Taipei City, where a total of eight seats are up for grabs in eight voting districts, incumbent Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅), running in the historically pro-DPP 2nd district, and Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), running in the 5th district, are given the best chances to win seats, officials have said.

In Taipei County, where 12 seats are being contested, incumbents Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) in the 2nd district, Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) in the 4th district and Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) in the 5th district are leading their rivals, while entertainer Yu Tien (余天) in the 3rd district is locked in a tight race.

DPP candidates are neck and neck with their opponents in the other districts, DPP officials said.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is expected to dominate in northern Taiwan, while the DPP should win most of its seats in the south.

In Chiayi City, pan-green forces are also split, with DPP incumbent Sandy Yen (莊和子) forced to fight off a challenge by the Taiwan Solidarity Union's Ling Tzu-chu (凌子楚) and pan-blue opponents.

In Chiayi County, normally a DPP stronghold, incumbent Chang Hua-kuan (張花冠) in the 2nd district has a slight lead over her rivals, but incumbent Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) will need to come from behind in the 1st district to retain his seat.

The DPP is optimistic it will sweep the three seats up for grabs in Tainan County, where its candidates have held steady leads over their rivals and said incumbent William Lai (賴清德) had a good chance of retaining his seat in Tainan City's 2nd district.

In southernmost Pingtung County, the DPP said it stood a good chance of seizing two of the three seats available.

The elections will mark the first time the single-member district, two-vote system is used. Past legislatures were composed of multiple representatives from individual districts, with lawmakers able to win seats with as little as 5 percent of votes.

Asian leaders facing difficult tests
　

By Richard Halloran
Sunday, Jan 06, 2008, Page 8

THIS YEAR WILL confront many leaders in Asia, especially in Beijing and Islamabad, with exceptionally difficult tests.

For the US, stuck with a lame- duck president and a tedious election campaign, the tests will not come until a new president enters the White House in January next year.

The authoritarian leaders in Beijing, who are promoting the Olympic Games in August as an emblem of China's arrival as a great power, will be tested by their handling of the hordes of foreign athletes, spectators and journalists who will descend on the capital.

Chinese political activists are almost certain to draw attention to Beijing's violations of human rights, while religious activists, such as Falun Gong, will most likely find ways to protest the regime's repression of freedom of worship.

It could be 1989 all over again. Advocates of democracy camped in Beijing's Tiananmen Square attracted foreign press and TV coverage from reporters who had journeyed to China to report on the visit of then-Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev. When demonstrations erupted and were put down brutally, the news flashed around the world.

Moreover, China's leaders may find it hard to conceal the country's economic shortcomings that were recently outlined in a World Bank report, or its corruption, civil unrest, censorship, pollution and other environmental problems.

Across the continent, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, or his successor if he does not survive in office, faces the difficult task of holding together a country at risk of splitting apart after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. At the very least, the Pakistani leader will need to establish some semblance of order in that stricken country.

The test that much of the rest of the world is watching is whether Pakistan's stash of nuclear weapons -- reported to number 60 -- can be kept away from al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or other radical groups operating in the country. Pakistani military officers say they have control of the weapons -- but the allegiance of some officers may be in doubt.

Back in East Asia, a new president in Taiwan is scheduled to be elected in March and to take office in May.

A critical task for the new leader will be to decide whether to rebuild relations with Washington and, if so, figure out how to go about it.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has shown calculated disregard for Washington's efforts to maintain a balance between China and Taiwan. Moreover, some US officials think Taiwan has been lax in preparing to defend the country from a China that has repeatedly threatened to use military force to conquer it.

In Seoul, similar tasks will confront president-elect Lee Myung-bak when he takes office next month. Many US officials view the current president, Roh Moo-hyun, as having been anti-US throughout his term. Roh has disparaged South Korea's alliance with the US and adopted a policy toward North Korea that borders on appeasement.

North of the demilitarized zone that divides the Korean peninsula, the leader of the regime in Pyongyang, Kim Jong-il, will continue to be confronted with at least two difficult decisions. One is whether to give up his nuclear weapons, which he has given little sign he is ready to do. The other is to remain in power and to name a successor.

Whiffs of civil unrest resulting from near starvation and hints of dissent, including from the army that assures Kim's power, occasionally waft out of that dark and isolated land, but they are so fleeting that no one gives them much credence. His father, Kim Il-sung, assured Kim Jong-il's rise to power by appointing him successor long before he passed away.

In Southeast Asia, Islamic terrorists in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia promise to keep the leaders awake at night. If the past is any indication, those who hold office in the ASEAN won't be of much help in defeating the terrorists.

Preoccupied with their own politics, Americans may have little to say about how the pressing issues of Asia are met this year. Indeed, the new US president will most likely find himself or herself having to plunge into a thicket of changes in Asia over which the US has had little or no influence.

Richard Halloran is a writer based in Hawaii.