Eric Chu Won A Close Election, Must Not Disappoint Party Members
United Daily News Editorial, September 26, 2021
After a close chase by Chang Ya-chung, Eric Chu narrowly won yesterday's Kuomintang (KMT) chairmanship election, supposedly by asking voters to abandon the incumbent Chairman Johnny Chiang to elect himself. Chu, who formerly served as chairman from 2015 to 2016, was again elected KMT chairman after leaving office six years. However, Chu got 196,000 votes in 2015 with almost 100 percent of the votes, but this time he got 80,000 some votes with about 46 percent of the votes. The gap was very big. The enormous change in six years not only reflects that the KMT has not unified itself after losing the 2020 presidential election but also indicates that many party members are still doubtful about Chu’s willpower to fight and his leadership. How to rebuild party members’ confidence and the KMT’s appeal is Chu’s inescapable duty.
In this election, Chu and Chiang faced fierce challenges from Chang, who has little connection with the KMT. This was quite unexpected. The challenges have highlighted several unsolved problems that the KMT faces. First, the KMT’s Cross-Strait policies are withdrawing, and cannot offer directions to respond to anti-China strategy by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Second, while Johnny Chiang keeps adequate balance with issues as KMT chairman, he did not spend too much time on the KMT’s internal reforms. Third, the structure of the KMT membership is not in tune with that of Taiwanese society, so while many deep-Blue members answered to the enthusiastic calls by Chang, young party members felt they were ignored. Chu must actively remedy and reform the above issues after assuming office.
In 2015, Chu as a rising star won 100 percent of the supporters, but now his support is below 50 percent. This shows that KMT members are disappointed in him. The reasons include how Chu first tried to avoid running for president in 2016 and then changed the KMT’s presidential candidate from Hung Hsiu-chu to himself, many people have not forgiven him. In the 2018 local elections and the 2020 presidential election, Chu did not actively help his KMT colleagues in campaigns and exhibited his lack of passion. This time he should thank Chang, for Chang’s policy of “peaceful unification,” though lacking reality at present time, may have unified the KMT’s practical views. Members may have feared Chang’s policy could destroy the KMT and voted for Chu instead, resulting in his victory yesterday.
The campaign for the party chairmanship should use positive values as the theme, proving that the candidates can lead the KMT in the future to counter DPP; but hatred and fear became the themes in this election. Chu’s camp portrayed Chang as “radical unification advocate” and “red unification advocate”, creating the fear that Chang may break up the KMT. Chang’s camp described Chu as “green Chu” (leaning towards DPP) and an “informer for the United States”, creating hatred towards Chu. These negative measures may have bad influence on the unity of the KMT.
Judging from the election result, tactics of fear and hatred may have increased the voting rate, and “abandon Chiang to elect Chu” tactics apparently had worked. Although Chiang’s votes are fewer than 20 percent, some members still had their own minds and did not abandon him. Finally, Chu did not get half of the total votes and Chang, who had high voices of support before the election, only got 32 percent of the votes.
Under current circumstances, if different camps fail to constraint themselves, that is, when the winner wants to take all and does not show tolerance and inclusiveness towards losers in personnel appointments, policies, and directions, and when the losers do not want to admit failures but still argue that the winner does not get a majority of the votes or whether his directions deviate from “genuine Blue”, then the infighting and “do-nothing-to-help” attitude will occur frequently. If these came true, then Eric Chu will meet many obstacles in governing the KMT, let alone unifying the KMT to achieve victory.
In all fairness, different ideas and political forces from across the spectrum within the party came out in this election. If these opinions can be well integrated, it may be an opportunity to unify the differences. Chu’s victory means the majority of party members still want to see a stable and practical leadership. The whirlwind support for Chang showed that the deep-blue supporters are not satisfied with the KMT’s weak oversight and frustrated that the KMT cannot meet high expectations. Though having lost the election, Chiang’s rising power of the young and strong generation cannot be ignored. Whether the disturbances during the campaign can be transformed into the party’s openness and plurality depends on the minds of the party’s opinion leaders.
After he assumes the KMT chairmanship, Eric Chu will face major issues such as the recall vote of Legislator Chen Po-wei, four referendums, 2022 local elections, and 2024 central elections. But Chu’s most urgent task is to repair the fractions during the campaign. He must not let the party members down!