VZCZCXRO0880
PP RUEHCN
DE RUEHIN #0246/01 0242321
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 242321Z JAN 06
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8183
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 4582
RUESLE/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 8325
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1010
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 4931
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 8924
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 5782

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000246 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
DEPT FOR EAP/TC, INR/EAP 
 
FROM AIT KAOHSIUNG BRANCH OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL TW
SUBJECT:  Southern View on the New DPP Chairman 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
  ¶1.  (U) Summary: The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) 
  held its island wide Chairmanship election on January 15 
  in which former Secretary General of the Presidential 
  Office Yu Shyi-kun was elected the new DPP Chairman. 
  With record low turnouts in southern Taiwan, Yu won all 
  the cities/counties except for Penghu County.  End 
  Summary. 
 
  Low Turnout 
  ----------- 
  ¶2.  (SBU) During the Chairmanship election, central DPP 
  headquarters prohibited their elected officials and local 
  party offices from mobilizing voting Party members by 
  encouraging or providing transportation to members to 
  vote in this election.  While the average turnout rate 
  was only around 20 percent, in Kaohsuing City and County 
  the turnout rate was an even lower 16 percent.  Some 
  Southern political observers attributed the low turnout 
  to the disappointment of the Party's members to the DPP's 
  enormous losses in the December "3 in 1 elections". 
  However, some party workers believe that this 
  Chairmanship election was the most democratic one they 
  have experienced, as the members who did bother to cast 
  their votes did so without any external encouragement or 
  facilitation by the Party. 
 
  Expected Results 
  ------------------ 
  ¶3.  (SBU) Most southern DPP party officials stated that 
  Yu's election was expected, due to his being a "known 
  entity", with prestige earned from his previous positions 
  and contributions to the Party.  Of the other two 
  candidates, Legislator Tsai Tong-jung (Trong Chai)was 
  seen as too old and former Changhua County Magistrate 
  Wong Chin-chu had just lost her re-election bid, which 
  made people suspect that her past performance must be 
  poor.  On Yu's election to the Chair, one party official 
  commented "Anyway, anyone is better than Acting Chairman 
  Annette Lu because she always says things which shock 
  people." 
 
  Cultivating Grassroots Support 
  -------------------------------- 
  ¶4. (SBU) Tainan County Chairman Kuo Kuo-wen told AIT/K that he 
  hopes Yu Shyi-kun, as the Party Chairman, will pay more 
  attention to strengthening and expanding grassroots 
  support for the Party in the South by providing more 
  financial assistance and manpower to the local-level 
  party offices.  He reiterated that future DPP development 
  must be based on grassroots growth and mobilization. 
  Without adequate financial resources at the local level, 
  Kuo emphasized, the Party will be unable to provide 
  decent constituent services or to respond properly to the 
  needs of grassroot supporters.  It was precisely the 
  central party's lack of concern about resources that, Kuo 
  insisted, caused the major DPP loss in the "3 in 1 
  election". 
 
  TSU's View 
  ---------- 
  ¶5. (SBU) Basically, the DPP will not change much under 
  Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, said Huang Chao-chan, Taiwan 
  Solidarity Union Party's (TSU) Taipei central office's 
  Deputy Secretary General.  Huang told AIT/K that Yu is 
  very approachable, so that any future negotiations 
  between the TSU and DPP to facilitate election 
  cooperation will be less contentious.  Huang pointed to 
  the upcoming Kaohsiung mayoral election, in which the TSU 
  is hoping only one green-camp candidate will run in order 
  to preserve the city for the green-camp.  The TSU clearly 
  doesn't want to be seen as a "spoiler" in this election. 
 
  KMT's View 
  ---------- 
  ¶6.  (SBU) An AIT/K KMT contact stated that the low 
  turnout in the Chairmanship election may indicate fading 
  enthusiasm for the DPP among its previous grassroots 
  supporters.  The KMT is waiting to see if some "deep- 
  green" supporters shift their support to the TSU, causing 
  a "split vote" effect in the upcoming Kaohsiung mayoral 
 
TAIPEI 00000246  002 OF 002 
 
 
  election.  (Note: TSU's Kaohsiung legislator Lo Chi-ming 
  has announced that he is interested in running in the 
  Kaohsiung mayoral election, although TSU Deputy Secretary 
  General Huang told AIT/K that he doubts Lo has any chance 
  to win.  To date, the DPP has two high-profile candidates 
  expressing interest in the mayoral race, former 
  Chairperson of Taiwan's Labor Council Chen Chu and 
  Interior Minister Su Chia-chuan. End Note.) 
 
  ¶7.  (SBU)  Comment.  In DPP's heartland, Southern Taiwan, 
  the DPP Chairmanship election generated surprisingly 
  little interest and party member turn-out in the actual 
  voting on January 15.  Two factors clearly affected the 
  turnout.  One was general burnout from the intense 
  campaigning and mobilization work that the Party 
  experienced in the recent "3-in-1 elections".  Second, 
  Southern voters and Party members are apparently still 
  disappointed over the series of corruption scandals that 
  have affected the DPP administration.  End comment. 
JOHNSON 
KEEGAN