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Editorial:
By-election is no victory for the KMT
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should understand that its narrow victory in
Greater Taichung’s legislative by-election on Saturday against the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) is not a vote of confidence on President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) administration.
Greater Taichung has long been a pan-blue stronghold, with former Non-Partisan
Solidarity Union legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) dominating the political scene
in his district for years and winning last year’s legislative election by nearly
40,000 votes.
However, in the by-election, Yen’s son, Yen Kuan-hen (顏寬恆), the KMT candidate,
fought a neck-in-neck battle against DPP candidate Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) and won by
less than 1,200 votes, highlighting the rapid decline of support enjoyed by the
KMT in a traditional stronghold during Ma’s administration.
Yen Ching-piao, whose own election was revoked after he was found guilty of
corruption, acknowledged that the victory was hard earned and blamed his son’s
narrow win on the “overall environment,” referring to the growing public
grievance against the Ma administration.
Ever since the KMT nominated Yen Kuan-hen as its candidate, the Yen family
played down its association with the party in campaigning to avoid Yen Kuan-hen’s
chances being hurt by the government’s poor performance. Neither Ma nor the KMT
were mentioned as Yen Kuan-hen thanked voters for their support in his victory
speech.
The KMT also distanced itself from the election. Ma, who doubles as KMT
chairman, was absent from all campaign activities while DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang
(蘇貞昌) led all party heavyweights to stump for Chen.
If Saturday’s result serves as a skirmish for the local government elections
next year, the KMT should recognize the narrow victory as a defeat and learn a
lesson from it.
The by-election is over, but the challenges the Ma administration and the KMT
face are not. Pension reform is far from complete, the economy shows little sign
of making a full recovery and major issues such as nuclear power plants need to
be addressed.
As Ma and the Executive Yuan prepare to announce pension reform measures this
week, they will need to explain clearly how they plan to lower the 18 percent
preferential interest rates on portions of the pensions of retired public
service and military employees and other measures and seek a consensus in
society before implementing any reforms.
The KMT must seek to work more closely with the DPP in ending the political
divides that have contributed to the long-term chaos in the legislature.
Ma, facing disgruntlement over his re-election bid for the KMT chairmanship,
should also not forget about the pledge he made when he was elected the KMT
chairman in 2005 to get rid of the party’s illicit assets and continue party
reform, besides fulfilling his duty as the president.
If Ma cannot deliver on his promises and improve the government’s performance,
he and the KMT will suffer a further loss of support, and even die-hard
supporters could turn their backs on them.
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