NOVEMBER 2010

DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS

Big-5 Elections: DPP
garners two seats,
surpassing more than 50%
support rate overall
The DPP held a Nov. 27th press conference after
the election results of the five-city mayor elec-
tions were announced. The press conference
was hosted by DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen, ac-
companied by Secretary General Wu Nai-ren
and DPP officials.
Below are her comments:
“On behalf of the DPP, I would like to thank
all the participants and our supporters in this
election, as well as thank all the rest of the DPP
party members. The results of this election
were not as we hoped, but we humbly accept
them.
“I would like to congratulate Mayor Chen
Chu, Mayor Lai Ching-teh and all the winning
city councilors, exhorting them to exert all their
efforts in uplifting city governance and bring-
ing a better livelihood for the city residents. I
would also like to express our deepest gratitude
to candidates Su Tseng-chang and Su Chia-
chuan for bravely shouldering responsibility,
achieving better overall DPP voter support and

seats for our city councilors and
strengthening our basic power dur-
ing this hardest period for the DPP.
During their election process, they
showed true democratic style and
values, and it can be said to be a
glorious defeat.
“I would also like to appeal to
our supporters to accept the results
in this election. We can understand
everyone’s disappointment, but we
can’t afford to be discouraged. We
must see this result as a challenge
and once again a test for the DPP.
In this election, the DPP received
more than 50% of the votes cast.
Adding the results of the last 3-in-1
elections, the amount of votes re-
ceived throughout the election ar-
eas of Taiwan is comparable with
the KMT. Additionally, the DPP
received a great increase in the
number of city councilors. This re-
sult is an achievement of our col-
lective efforts. Therfore, do not be-
lieve that this is the end and every-
one should not lose faith. The DPP
will continue to fight on.
“The DPP this time remained
rational and pragmatic in develop-
... continued on page 6

PAGE 1
 NOVEMBER 2010

Big-5 Elections Taipei: “let’s continue exceeding ourselves”

Nov. 27 Statement by Su Tseng-chang

I would like to thank everyone for their support
Dear fellow city residents, dear friends, the results and for their advice, for giving me that many op-
of this election have been announced, and facing it portunities to learn, and I will continue to exert all
calmly, I respect the choices of our city resident my efforts. At the same time, I would also like to
and at the same time, I congratulate my opponent. I give my blessings to Mayor Hao. I hope that Taipei
would like to especially thank our fellow staff City makes even greater progress and Taiwan be-
members for working arduously day and night. I comes even better. I would also like to make an
would also like to thank the support of all the peo- appeal to all our friends to continue persisting for
ple. However, the results did not meet everyone’s democracy and for Taiwan. We must continue cher-
expectations and did not meet everyone’s inten- ishing the change we believe in, we must progress
tions, and for this I am very sorry. Since the day I and become even more exceeding individuals. We
announced my candidacy, I persisted in having dis- must definitely work harder, especially when I see
cussions with the city residents and not use any so many young people and so many head of house-
abusive, discrediting or negative language in the holds and so much warmth. I will need even more
campaign and going as far as injecting a new type advice and support in the future. I will continue
of campaigning method. Even though the result is using the dialogue method to learn and work harder
not as we expected, I believe that one day, this will together with everyone. I hope that we continue
become a model as well as a value trend, and just exceeding ourselves, and tomorrow we will exceed
only we need to continue persisting. I do not have today. We definitely must continue persisting and
any regrets, and I invite everyone not to feel dis- walking with our efforts towards the future. Here
couraged. As long as our direction was right and today, we expect for a better tomorrow.
our steps continue forward, everyone will gradu-
ally accept the right choices.

PAGE 2

Big-5 Elections Taichung: Su Chia-chuan promises to stay
In the evening of the first Greater Taichung elec-
tion, the DPP’s candidate for Greater Taichung Su
Chia-chuan made his concession speech after a
loss of a small margin. Su Chia-chuan expressed
his gratitude to all the supporters, and he also gave
his congratulations to KMT Mayor Jason Hu.
Su Chia-chuan gave his apologies for not win-
ning the election, saying that his efforts were not
sufficient and that he failed to live up to every-
one’s expectations. He also said that, nevertheless,
he promises to continue staying in Greater Tai-
chung and continue to work hard with all the resi-
dents in creating a happy and bright future.
“I do not wish to find faults in this elections
loss,” said Su. “This loss was because my efforts
were insufficient, but I also wish to send my con-
gratulations to Mayor Hu. I hope that in the future
Mayor Hu protects the old communities in Greater
Taichung, and not to let it continue decline or let
NOVEMBER 2010
the marginalization of the areas in former Tai-
chung County. I also wish that he may protect the
disadvantaged groups, let the younger generation
be able to afford housing and let the older genera-
tion receive plenty of protection.”
Su also said that since he arrived in Taichung
six months ago, he was able to visit 625 townships
oftentimes more than twice. He said he was grate-
ful to all the residents for their warmth and sup-
port, and for this reason, he said that he will estab-
lish an office in Taichung City to continue servic-
ing the community. Su explained that he wished to
continue staying in Greater Taichung so that he
could get closer to the residents and work together
with them for the welfare of the area.
At Su’s concession speech during the evening
of the election, he was accompanied by his wife,
his campaign staff and managers of his campaign,
Frank Hsieh and Lin Chia-lung.
... continued on the next page
PAGE 3

NOVEMBER 2010

Big-5 Elections: “Kaohsiung is the real winner”

equality in city resident’s wel-
fare, equality in the insurance
of civil servants and equality in
the progress and development
of cities and townships. I will
continue upholding the princi-
ples of “honesty, diligence and
love for our native land” so
that our residents “love living
in Kaohsiung”, joining hand-
in-hand in reaching a glorious
peak for our city.
I would like to thank our
mighty residents. I would also
like to thank our campaign
team and the entire DPP as
Statement by Mayor-elect Chen Chu of Greater well as the staff in the townships and city districts.
Kaohsiung: Your heart and efforts into this election have given
me profound meaning. I will always remember
Even though there were different opinions in this emotion, and this gives me the force to work
this time’s mayoral election, I believe that repre- harder and move forward in the future.
senting the power of progress and change, I was I will make Greater Kaohsiung even better, and
ultimately victorious. In the past 12 years, we be- Kaohsiung will make Taiwan even greater. The
lieved that the value of Kaohsiung in which we all results of this election is the beginning of our
worked together toward would ultimately move unity. I will keep in mind the standpoints raised by
the people and obtain their confirmation. my opponents, Huang Chao-shun and Yang Chiu-
Thank you, residents of Greater Kaohsiung, for hsing. Also, I will immediately set into practice
making a warm and fair decision. With the home- my campaign promises. Together with our Greater
land’s warmth, I am humbly grateful. With the Kaohsiung residents, the future city government
homeland’s expectations, I will definitely work will together safeguard our garden of livelihood
harder. and beautiful Kaohsiung.
The greatest task that follows is working to- It is regretful though that the DPP wasn’t able
gether for the responsibilities that come with to achieve a breakthrough in the number of exist-
combining city and county. The next task is also to ing seats. However, our voting numbers showed
make Greater Kaohsiung become a competitive remarkable increases. I believe that the entire
and international city. party gave their all so that everyone continued to
I once again promise that in the future, there give the DPP their warmth and care. Once again,
will be no difference between city and county or thank you everyone for continuing to cheer for
division between city and townships. There will Kaohsiung.
only be what I have emphasized to be the com-
mon, glorious development highlighted by the
three words “high, high and equal”. This means,

... continued on the next page

PAGE 4

Big-5 Elections Tainan: 3 major goals achieved
After the DPP’s election win in Greater Tainan,
DPP Mayor-elect Lai Ching-teh appeared at his
campaign headquarters to thank all the supporters
for placing trust in his capacity. Lai announced
that this victory in Greater Tainan for himself and
the party was an achievement of the major goals
set out for the election.
Lai said that the three goals were successfully
accomplished, which were: (1) win Greater
Tainan, rebuild Taiwan’s number one city, (2) in-
crease voter percentage in the Big-5 Elections,
achieve big win for Taiwan, (3) majority party in
city council, support the mayor for Greater
Tainan’s reconstruction.
Besides winning the mayoral seat in Tainan, the
DPP also performed superbly in the number of
city councilor seats, capturing 27 seats and be-
coming the majority party in the city council.
DPP Mayor-elect Lai called together a press
conference with all the winning councilors, an-
nouncing that he will continue to speak with the
remaining independent councilors in order to form
a coalition to improve the quality of the city coun-
NOVEMBER 2010
cil. He also said that he looked forward to see the
party caucus work together in the nomination of
the city council’s speaker and deputy speaker. Lai
also said he welcomed the independent councilors
to join the DPP’s city council caucus, and he also
said that he hoped to play a role in welcoming
them to join the party if they chose to do so.
Executive Director Lin Jung-Shian delivered a
report on the result of this election. Among 57
seats, the DPP achieved 27 seats, holding 47.37%.
The KMT garnered 13 seats and independents 17
seats. Of the 34 candidates that ran for the DPP,
the success rate was 79.41%. Comparing this elec-
tion result with previous elections of the past five
years, the DPP in Tainan County achieved 27.11%
and Tainan City 35.78%. Lin also reported that a
total of 13 districts in Greater Tainan supported
the DPP’s nominated candidates.
... continued on the next page
PAGE 5

...press conference
ing public policy for the livelihood of the peo-
ple and the disadvantaged. This showed a dif-
ferent image of the party and political culture
in Taiwan. For this reason, we feel extremely at
ease. We definitely believe that this is a right
choice, and we will continue to persist in our
ideals until the DPP gains sufficient trust from
the public.
“In the past two years, the DPP and its party
members have walked through a tumultuous
period of growth and setbacks. I know that in
the near future, we will face an even tougher
battle, but with the same faith and courage, I
Chair Tsai Ing-wen highlights DPP’s future after Big-5
Elections
Remarks by DPP Chair Tsai Ing-wen on Nov.
30 with members of the foreign media:
In this election, contrary to our expectations
and pre-election poll analysis, we did not win
more mayoral seats as we had hoped. We se-
cured the two southern cities with slight victo-
ries, but we were not able to expand our gov-
erning presence to the northern cities. In total
vote count, however, we broke the record, and
surpassed the KMT for the first time in the ur-
ban areas, winning nearly 50% of the votes
against KMT’s 44%. We also made tremen-
dous gain in the percentage of local city coun-
cils, where the number of DPP seats is also un-
precedented. And the chart is there. We are
grateful to all the Taiwanese people who have
restored trust in the DPP and supported us this
time.
In various events of ours, we have noticed
that there were a lot more of young people and
women, who have traditionally kept a distance
from the DPP rallies. Their presence gives us
NOVEMBER 2010
... continued "om the "ont page
will continue to lead the DPP, firmly marching
forward. Thank you!”
confidence that the DPP has captured the inter-
ests and support of new sectors of the public.
We also noticed a high level of passion in the
sense we haven’t seen in years, and we hope
this positive image will sustain as we move
ahead.
We ran an election campaign with a focus
on public policy and successfully led the public
discourse, which compelled the KMT to fol-
low. For example, we introduced the discus-
sion on public social housing, government ini-
tiated urban renewal, and improving the deliv-
ery system for social benefits. These are ideas
consistent with the DPP’s ideology of social
justice, equal opportunity and assisting the dis-
advantaged sector of society. Our ideas re-
ceived more positive feedback and we will
continue to develop this policy, policies, as we
present our 10 year policy outlook.
I think since our defeat in 2008, the DPP has
been in the process of recovering. And we
have indeed managed to restore much confi-
dence in the
... continued on the next page
PAGE 6

...DPP international press briefing
party, especially through our by-election victo-
ries, the rural 3-in-1 elections last December
and both the gains last weekend. We must con-
solidate these gains and continue to strive for
more support from our people as we face the
next electoral challenges of the legislative and
presidential elections of 2012.
Throughout my leadership of the DPP, we
have put tremendous efforts into rebuilding our
party’s credibility by presenting practical pol-
icy or discourse in hopes of surpassing the tra-
ditional blue-green divide and confrontational
politics. We believe this is a correct path of
which we will continue to strive. And in the
coming months, we will continue to present
our policy guidelines and ten year outlook for
the future. We must further articulate to the
Taiwanese people where we see the challenges
for our country in the next ten years, and how
we expect to cope with these internal and ex-
ternal challenges. We have already presented
chapters for public discussion on ethnic rela-
tions, agriculture, gender issues and education.
And we will continue to present our views in
other important issue areas that will affect our
country’s future.
We must continue to consolidate the
strength of our party in both public image and
trust on the one hand, and the other grassroots
organizational base on the other. At the same
time, we have been very successful in rebuild-
ing the party’s financial structure by small in-
dividual donations so that we can sustain the
party’s health, financial health, on the long-run,
without relying on business donations.
The unprecedented number of city council-
ors elected this time is an important inroads in
grassroots politics that will provide a founda-
tion for future national elections.
Now, cross strait policies. I know that in-
ternational community is very interested in
how we proceed with our foreign policy and in
NOVEMBER 2010
... continued "om the previous page
particular, how we deal with China. How we
face the challenges of a rising China that has an
overwhelming economic, political and security
impact on Taiwan, will be an important task of
the party in the coming years. There are a
number of things that we will be doing. First,
our doors continue to be open to dialogue as
long as the Chinese do not set political precon-
ditions. Over the past five months we have
already welcomed substantial number of Chi-
nese visitors to our headquarters, and we will
continue to welcome those who are genuinely
interested to understanding. We have also in-
vited Chinese democracy activists and liberal-
minded analysts to observe our election cam-
paigns to help them gain a deeper understand-
ing of our views and Taiwanese sentiments.
We have an ongoing project of consolidating
views in the party to formulate the China and
national security chapters in the ten year policy
guideline to be presented sometime next
spring.
We will establish a think tank research cen-
ter in the party to strengthen our analytical and
quality capacity to deal with cross strait devel-
opments as well as foreign development. Al-
ternatively, we recognize the need to establish
a peaceful and stable framework for interacting
with China. In fact, there is a large sector of
our society that is not comfortable with the
pace in the current government’s pro-China
inclinations. We must present ourselves to be a
trustworthy alternative that is capable of pre-
serving Taiwan’s dignity, security and prosper-
ity.
I have reiterated many times that in con-
ducting external politics, we must bear in mind
that the need to maintain balance, transparency,
and respect for the democratic due process
here.
PAGE 7

NOVEMBER 2010

DPP statement concerning election DEMOCRACY &

shooting incident PROGRESS
Most of us in the DPP are disappointed in the outcome in part PUBLISHED BY:
due to the unexpected turn of events prior to the election,
which overturned poll predictions and previous analyses. Department of International
Affairs Democratic
There was the unfortunate shooting incident, which dominated Progressive Party
the media throughout the voting date with KMT-exaggerated
interpretations and politicization. 9F, No. 30, Pei-Ping East
Road, Taipei, Taiwan
The facts and motivation of the shooting were not present in
full in the immediate aftermath, leaving much room for politi- Tel: 886-2-2392-9989 ext. 306
cization and manipulation in the media.

We do not want to see this incident evolving into a source of Fax: 886-2-2393-0342
confrontation in our society, and we have expressed our con-
dolences to the victims of the shooting. Email: foreign@dpp.org.tw

However, at the same time our supporters demand a thorough Website:

and transparent investigation, and therefore DPP Chair Tsai- http://www.dpp.org.tw
Ing-wen has instructed the DPP’s party caucus in the legisla-
ture to act in accordance with the democratic and legal proc-
ess, to oversee the government in pushing for a complete in-
vestigation and disclosure of the truth as soon as possible. DIRECTOR:
Bikhim Hsiao
But more importantly, the shooting illustrates that there re-
main vulnerabilities in Taiwan’s democracy. More work re- DEPUTY DIRECTORS:
mains to be done to strengthen public confidence in our de- Hsieh Huai-hui
mocracy so as not to allow incidents of violence and fear af- Tsai Meng-chun
fect election outcomes in the future.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Michael J. Fonte

EDITOR:
Ping-Ya Hsu

PAGE 8