When the Democratic Progressive Party is No Longer Democratic
By Hung Chung-wen
United Daily News, November 6, 2021
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) just promulgated special regulations for the nomination of city mayors and county magistrates in the 2022 election. Among 22 cities and counties, only Keelung, Hsinchu City, and Pingtung have primary elections. All the candidates running for the head of other 19 cities and counties are nominated by the party chairperson. This move caused an uproar for everyone. The DPP has kept bragging that it will protect Taiwan’s democratic values, but it is actually the most undemocratic party.
It’s only a pretext to say that the selection of candidates through coordination instead of party primary process is to avoid dog-fights within party candidates during the primary process, which will benefit other parties during the formal elections. In fact, President Tsai Ing-wen fears that after 2022, the party members may start betting on future presidential candidates, and thus make her a lame duck. Therefore, as the current chairwoman of the DPP, she intends to expand indefinitely the power of the party chairwoman as to grasp the nomination power to favor all nominees over 19 localities. Whatever the outcome of the election may be, she can avoid herself from a lame-duck situation. With expanded power in hand as the party chairwoman, President Tsai may continue to hold the nomination power of candidates running for legislators and even president in the future elections.
If the party primary running for city mayors and county magistrates can be deprived, it is conceivable that the candidates running for legislators and president in the next 2024 general election may be directly appointed by the party chairperson. There are various policies of the DPP nowadays just contradictory to its founding principles. On the contrary, they are in line with those of the autocratic Communist Party, so called by the DPP, on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. When the Democratic Progressive Party is no longer “democratic,” then what else is left?