Green Camp Is Destined to Split: Ko Wen-je’s Third Way Might Materialize

  Green Camp Is Destined to Split: Ko Wen-je’s Third Way Might Materialize

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 25, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

On April 22, a grand march was staged with great fanfare organized by elements who hated Ko Wen-je, demanding that the DPP field its own candidate for the yearend Taipei City mayoral race, and to say goodbye to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je. The mobilization was a success, but it did not help dissolve the controversy of whether the DPP should yield to Ko Wen-je in the Taipei City mayoral race. Taipei City councilmembers and their supporters of DPP-affiliation were, instead, fragmented, causing a mess. 90% of DPP city councilmembers took part in the march; rather than saying they were anti-Ko, it would be better to say that it was a collective anxiety about the tense election campaign. Higher echelons in the DPP asked city councilmembers whether the DPP should field its own candidate or yield to Ko Wen-je. The city council members were ambiguous in their attitude because even they did not know which path would be more advantageous to them.

Rumors have been leaking from DPP high echelons with some worried Ko might become the most formidable “big wig” after getting re-elected and that he might throw his hat into the 2020 presidential election campaign; while the party central has been procrastinating, grassroots splits are gradually becoming apparent. Hsieh Chun-chou, general president of the grand alliance of parent association presidents of Taipei City, angrily lambasted, saying if any DPP hopefuls aspiring to run for the city council opposed Ko Wen-je, he would call on all parent association presidents to boycott him with their ballots. An elder of a former DPP faction accused the party central in the press, believing that the best time to handle the Ko Wen-je issue had already passed, and saying that in the yearend elections, he would rather vote for Ting Shou-chung of the KMT.

The DPP drama with poor box office receipts is still going on; Ko Wen-je in the end perhaps could walk out a third way, breaking through the Blue-Green tectonic plates.

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