Election roundup (03/19)

In general:

1. Central Election Commission chair Masa Chang (aka Chang Cheng-hsiung (張政雄)) has said that a social concensus would be required before holding the legislative and presidential elections at the same time.
2. DPP legislator Chen Chin-de (陳金德) caused an uproar today by promoting a draft constitution for a "Second Republic of the ROC" that had been written by the TSU affiliated Taiwan Thinktank. It called for a cabinet system (which he agrees would create a very weak presidency) and would write into the constitution the so called "two countries" formula (兩國論), which Taida professor Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) described as "reality." For its part, the KMT decided to fly off the handle, saying they would oppose the draft and saying Chen was seeking "de jure independence" and was trying to spark a war, rhetoric that is typical from the Chinese Communist Party but not the KMT.
   

On the DPP side:

1. A group of DPP party members led by DPP Central Committee member Huang Ching-lin (黃慶林) have made a proposal to strengthen the primary and weaken the opinion poll for choosing legislators. They proposed changing party rules to allow the At large nominees to be chosen entirely by primary and for the presidental and districted legislative nominees to be weighted 50% primary, 50% opinion poll. (中央社)
2. There are conflicting reports on how the DPP whether A-bian has thrown his weight behind a primary or if he will continue to try to negotiate the DPP nominee among the interested parties.
   

On the KMT side:

1. Wang supporters said yesterday that a possible "third force" within the party, namely either Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), Wu Den-Yih (吳敦義) or some combination, may sort of overwhelm the current thinking of a Wang/Ma or Ma/Wang ticket. Why? Because Ma may not be able to run legally for the KMT because of this special affairs fund. Note: I think Wang here is not so much promoting either Wu as a candidate so much as he wants to remind everyone of Ma's legal vulnerability and what that might mean to the chances of winning in '08.
2. Legislator Lee Sen-zong (李顯榮) has already stated that he's angry with the KMT for not negotiating with Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) about who will run in Taipei County, Dist. 1 He's threatening to leave and run on the DPP ticket! The KMT has played down the effects of any such run and also emphasized that they have not given up on negotiating this thing through. (中央社) Note: This is the most obvious of several cracks that should appear within both parties over the nomination process and could lead to defectors.
3. Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) registered to run for party chairman and indicated she wanted a debate. Candidate Wu Poh-hsiung did not indicate much interest but did not rule the idea out either. (RTI)
4. As people registered to run in the primary for legislative seats within the KMT, Former Pingtung mayor Wang Chin-shih (王進士) announced his candidacy for Pingtung District 2. Note: I have a particular interest in this district. Unlike last week, I'll wait until all the registration is finished this week before posting the results (with this obvious exception).