Surprised to find myself the first one to post about this: it’s a bloodbath out there for the DPP.
The KMT will have a strong absolute majority (some TV stations say 80 out of 113 seats) and the small parties have been wiped out.
My personal opinion: the DPP only has itself to blame - it changed the election system making today’s blue tsunami possible, and CSB talked too much nonsense. He should now do the wise thing and step back, turn down the volume, and let Frank Hsieh do the talking.
As to the candidates winning and losing, a lot of garbage has been elected:
-independent pro-blue gangster Yan Qingbiao, KMT gangster son Luo Mingcai, and in Sanchong maybe entertainer Yu Tian, nominated by the DPP despite his well-known gangster ties;
But some bad guys also lost:
-He Zhihui from Miaoli, a notoriously corrupt KMT guy
-DPP foulmouths Tsai Chi-fang and Lin Chung-mo
-DPP ‘I threw a shoe at legislative speaker’s head so I’m so cool’ Wang Shu-hui
-DPP sleazy loudmouth and Frank Hsieh supporter Wang Shih-hsien
So far my very personal roundup of this election. No TV station has been saying much about the referendums, but then they probably won’t pass anyway.
Why would CSB be smart enough to step back now? He resigned to take responsibility for the last round of electoral failures, then decided he was the right man to campaign this time. :loco:
My prediction, over the next 4 years the KMT will approve all the welfare bills they previously were blocking (in favor of their control grabbing bills) using the absolute majority they will gain. Then they will campaign how they did more for the people than DPP in the next election and people will forget they were the ones blocking them this time.
They will then remain in power - open up Taiwan to Chinese tourist who will “forget” to go back home and allow business to take all intellectual assets to China.
Once people start to cry poor, the KMT can then turn around and say this was DPP’s fault for not doing enough - and the people will believe it.
In Australia we have the Labour and Liberal government. But regardless of who you vote for both are Australian centric. So if we don’t like the policies of one we can choose the other.
(In my view) I think its too early for Taiwan to think this way - they don’t have two home grown parties where its only a difference in policies - it’s about a choice of Taiwan or China.
I base this on being in Taiwan last week and talking to relatives who have family members in the DPP party. And their were telling me they were unsure who to vote for because DPP hasn’t done enough.
So they don’t see the KMT as the threat I do.
Oh well - time will tell.
I was thinking of applying for a Taiwanese passport since Australia has made their dual nationality rules more flexible - but I’m not sure I will now.
It will be interesting to see whether the KMT is subtle or not in their goals.
Maybe we’ll see a sign on the shores and custom offices of Taiwan - “Taiwan Firesale - everything must go!”
Chen had to be the DPP chairman so that he could take responsibility for the legislative election results so that Hsieh, who has been lying low, could get through without being too adversely affected by a poor showing. The interesting part starts now, as we discover what Hsieh’s campaign is really like.
There was a ‘kind of interview’ scene with his wife about an hour ago, she was such an utter embarrassment. She came across as quite the psycho drama queen nutjob.
Yu Tian barely won. You could say being a celebrity was the difference.
My personal opinion: the DPP only has itself to blame - it changed the election system making today’s blue tsunami possible, and CSB talked too much nonsense. He should now do the wise thing and step back, turn down the volume, and let Frank Hsieh do the talking.[/quote]
Totally agree… while he was speaking of referendums and “love Taiwan”, the KMT were pulling apart and ridiculing all of the things he did (and thus the DPP) over the last 8 years. And then there was the little issue with Sogo vouchers and son-in-law investment scams, which turned DPP supporters away from him (and thus the DPP)
Yeah what a great selection of legislators (past and future), then again who can you blame, them or the people that vote them in. When I see the elections/candidates/winners here in Taiwan., it reminds me why I would never assume shitzenship of a country like this (while having to revoke my original)
What’s really interesting, really, is that the DPP was absolutely, utterly, completely tronced tonight. The results weren’t close, the race wasn’t tight. What’s interesting is how the party will deal with the fact that voters turned them out. Will it change it’s message, or will it simply blame others?
[quote]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.”[/quote]
[quote]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.”[/quote]
Woohoo! :bravo:[/quote]
I really enjoyed reading that quote/bit you provided.
The news stories in the next few days will be very interesting.
I think it’s bad for democracy that the results were so uneven. However, with Chen’s clout lessened, perhaps the party can do some “navel gazing” before the presidential elections. With Chen resigning as Chairman of the DPP, I hope some of his less-than-stellar political appointments are “bootfucked” out of office toute suite. With incomes stagnating, Hsieh needs to go back to “bread and butter” issues and convince voters that he is more trustworthy than Ma. Unless Hsieh can really change public opinion of the party in the coming three months, I think it’s gonna be a sad day for the party in March as well (although not by as large margins as tonight). So much promise, so little delivered, so many mistakes, and so many second-rate appointments.
You mean 91% of the mere 25 percent of the electorate who bothered to give that bit of nonsense even a passing consideration, of course. And the turnout was about the same for the KMT referendum.
All that shows us is that apart from the braindead sheeple – the kind who’ll do anything for a free biandang and a bit of a party – not a single person in the country with any sense whatsoever on either side of the political spectrum gave this referendum crap any countenance whatsoever.
Good news though. Interesting. A massive KMT legislative majority AND a KMT president.
Yeah, I think you’re quite right. A balance of power is needed here, and this election is going to skew it too far in the direction of the corrupt old blue money.
well, I’m trying to put a smile in my face because now I have a relative that is a legislator, but still I can’t.
Hopefully, the houses in the area where I live will continue to raise in value so that I can sell it with a nice profit - and think about going to a better place. No, Taiwan (or should we start calling it ROC/Chinese Taipei) won’t be a better place, because the establishment/system is the cause of most of it’s problems - and that normally only disappears the hard way.
The DPP is guilty as charged of not having a single policy passed into the people - not even the fact that the stolen assets could be used to pay education until senior high school to all the students.
Sandman, it really takes balls to ask for a referendum paper out of people who clearly are not willing to give them to you. The KMT has used all the tricks they had (I swear to you a friend of my wife refused the referendum papers based on what her husband (just returned from China) told her - and both neglected completely the message, they just knew they had to refuse it).
Now, everything will be business and mafia business, like it was before, and probably will be while there is not a revolution. Probably there won’t be a revolution, because the CCP might be knocking the door sooner or later.
I wonder how the KMT will do now the direct links - will they accept the “domestic flights”?
Yeah, I think you’re quite right. A balance of power is needed here, and this election is going to skew it too far in the direction of the corrupt old blue money.[/quote]
After the way the DPP has been going against the national will and wielding its power by unilateral strongarm tactics instead of fostering consensus, despite being in the minority in the legislature, a skew away from the corruption of the DPP is a good thing indeed…
Democracy isn’t dead (even though the DPP created a memorial to it). But the DPP will have to rethink its modus operandi in the future.