In 2016, the DPP swept into power promising social progressivism and economic rejuvenation. So why does it now look like the KMT’s B team?

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/27
By: Roy Ngerng

Photo Credit:Reuters/達志影像

One of the reasons why the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost so heavily in Taiwan’s local elections over the weekend was because it is no longer clear to voters what the DPP stood for, and could therefore have been a mismatch of expectations.

The DPP won in the 2016 presidential election on the basis that Taiwanese voters wanted to punish the Kuomintang (KMT) for being too closely aligned to China and threatening Taiwan’s sovereignty. That much is clear. On that assumption, the DPP has stuck to the belief that it should never waver in its stance towards China, and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has never accepted the so-called “One China, One Taiwan 1992 Consensus.” This in itself should not be too much of an issue, since most polls have shown support for Tsai on this issue.

However, while the assumption was that voters had voted for DPP because they wanted a more progressive approach to governance – what with Tsai advocating for same-sex marriage and the constant promise to increase the wages of Taiwan’s youths – the problem is that it seemed that there was no follow through on the DPP’s part.    [FULL  STORY]