(Observer News)
Lai Qingde joined the election campaign, and the contradiction with Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election, has become increasingly prominent, and even the news that the latter wants to quit the party and run as a non-party member. However, on 10 April, two days before the deadline for the original coordination period for the primary elections, the situation changed.
After a three-hour long meeting on the same day, the DPP's "Central Executive Committee" decided to postpone the coordination period for the primary election from April 12 to May 22 after the party's "legislator" primary election. According to the outside world, this move is tailor-made for Tsai Ing-wen, so that she, who is currently lagging behind in the polls, has the opportunity to catch up with Lai Qingde.
The controversy between Tsai Lai and lai entered the overtime game, which angered the "pro-independence faction" who originally wanted to "force the palace" Tsai Ing-wen, and Wu Lipei, the "senior minister" of Tsai Ing-wen's office, directly criticized it. "Then simply declare martial law so that no one will ever choose her."
According to the "China Times" and other Taiwan media reported on the 11th, because Tsai Ing-wen does not want to conduct a party primary election, and Lai Qingde insists on going through the procedures without changing the rules of the game, so in order to avoid contradictions, the factions have continuously convened meetings from the previous night, until the 10th meeting, there are also factions to discuss.
The atmosphere of the meeting was solemn, and Chen Ju, secretary general of the Cai Office, said as soon as she opened her mouth that she was very afraid of splitting and had a heavy heart. Dpp "legislator" Lin Junxian, who supported Lai Ching-te, and Chen Maosong of the "Zhenghui" (a faction under the DPP) opposed the extension.
In the end, DPP Chairman Zhuo Rongtai announced that after 22 May, the dpp chairman Zhuo Rongtai announced that in light of the opinions of the people and the suggestions of the Organization Department, the original process and primary election mechanism would not be changed, and the poll on the nomination of the leader of the Taiwan region would be prepared after May 22, and all the executive committee members of the Central Committee would approve it without objection.
Zhuo Rongtai Picture from "Zhongshi E-News"
Luo Jiawen, secretary general of the Democratic Progressive Party, said that the extension of time is not to let everyone fight and oppose, but to strive for time and space to reach a consensus; he also called on Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Qingde to restrain their supporters and stop attacking each other through various languages and languages.
It is afraid of intensifying the infighting in the DPP
After the resolution was issued, Tsai Ing-wen said on Facebook that "I respect any thinking and practice of the party in handling the primary election", and said that the goal of the primary election is not who wins or loses, but wins the "general election".
Lai Qingde, on the other hand, issued an article on the theme of "not being afraid of rebellion, not changing the original intention, and running for election to the end," expressing deep regret over the postponement of the primary election, and that this was the second amendment and the third announcement of the "Central Executive Committee," causing serious harm to the DPP. He said he had never consulted on the resolution and stressed that he would "persist in going through the democratic process."
Judging from the results of a number of recent polls, Lai Qingde's support is significantly ahead of Tsai Ing-wen, and the outside world interprets that the DPP's move is intended to delay the polls for Tsai Ing-wen.
Quoted by a DPP insider, the China Commentary Agency said that if Tsai Ing-wen is given a period of time because of her leadership position, the polls will gradually rise, and as long as it is mid-May, it is likely to surpass Lai Qingde. Recently, Tsai Ing-wen has indeed made a lot of moves, and the momentum has an upward trend.
The "China Times" editorial pointed out that the first primary election of "legislators" within the party and then the primary polls of leaders make it easier for those who run for "legislators" to take sides, and the emotions of supporters will ferment, but on the contrary, the infighting will become more intense and the division within the party will intensify.
Tsai Ing-wen and Lai Qingde from Taiwan's Lianhe Pao
The "Taiwan independence" bigwig criticized bitterly
With regard to the DPP's decision, the "Taiwan independence" bigwigs on the island could not sit still. Wu Lipei, a "senior official" of the Tsai Office who had jointly signed a petition asking Tsai Ing-wen to "give up her re-election," questioned whether it must be postponed to Tsai Ing-wen's qualifications. What if you can't recruit again? "Then simply declare martial law so that no one will ever choose her."
He angrily said that the leader must not be elected by "so-and-so"? "So-and-so" must not represent the DPP? There is no reason at all to postpone the primary election, and it is a great harm to the DPP if it does not play its cards according to its cards at all.
Chen Shui-bian also joined the criticism team, saying that the DPP was "dragging the shed with a bad play" (delaying a bad play). He believes that the Tsai Ing-wen camp intends to delay the change, lai Qingde is determined to firmly complete the democratic process, to run in the end, the deer died whose hand is still difficult to say, but the original 100 meters race ran halfway, halfway changed to run 400 meters, no wonder Lai Qingde said that although he did not agree, he had to face it bravely.
He asked rhetorically: If the opponent Kuomintang is menacing and bound to win, can the DPP still waste its time and be lucky?
Peng Wenzheng, a Taiwan host who coined words such as "ancient and modern Taiwan and foreign countries" and "Taiwan Ken," also announced that "the DPP has seriously undermined democracy" for 30 seconds before the program began on the 10th.
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.