Taiwan’s Democracy Falls Following Cheating à la Tsai Ing-wen

Taiwan’s Democracy Falls Following Cheating à la Tsai Ing-wen

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

May 28, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The internecine fights in the DPP’s presidential primary have become fiercer and fiercer; the timetable has been postponed twice, and disputes in the mechanism of the public opinion polls, as well as the imaginary foe in the cross-referencing polls have reached no solution. The two camps within the DPP are accusing the other side of launching netizen armies, exposing the political maneuverings of the other side, such as lacking political good faith. What was originally expected to be a “gentleman’s competition” has completely evaporated, entering a most ugly political mud slinging.

The timetable and rules for the DPP’s presidential primary had already been adopted by the Central Executive Committee in early March; now, not only the timetable has been postponed, but even the rules are being modified near the end of the primary. Although the Tsai Ing-wen camp has tossed out many grounds, attempting to rationalize the changes in the rules, even the man in the street knows that the top echelon elites of the Green camp that grasp the machinery of the party precisely want to tailor-make a new system for Tsai Ing-wen to ensure her winning as she has wished.

Tsai Ing-wen perhaps could, through coalescing with the system and elites of the Green camp, as well as grasping the machinery the party and state, utilize backroom procedures, fake information, and a netizen army, to win over Lai Ching-te. However, Tsai could not win over the people's trust vis-à-vis the fairness of this primary and vis-à-vis the DPP. For the same reason, though Tsai Ing-wen could abuse resources of the state, viewed from the results of the 9-in-1 local elections and the opinion polls conducted following the 3^rd anniversary of the Tsai government, she equally could not garner the support of the majority of the people. Tsai Ing-wen must squarely face this point, letting the primary and presidential election proceed in a fair manner, no longer abusing the authority of the party and the state to twist the results by cheating. Only with concrete acts to strive for the economy and revive cross-Strait relations could she win the hearts of the people. The power skewered from cheating can only harm Taiwan’s democracy.

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