PRESIDENT CHEN'S CANDIDATE WINS DPP PARTY CHAIRMAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000158 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2026 TAGS: PGOV TW SUBJECT: PRESIDENT CHEN'S CANDIDATE WINS DPP PARTY CHAIRMAN RACE REF: TAIPEI 139 Classified By: AIT Director Douglas Paal, Reasons: 1.4 (B/D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Former Presidential Office Secretary General Yu Shyi-kun, a moderate tacitly supported by President Chen, won election as chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on January 15. Chen hopes Yu's victory will help him reconsolidate his power, weakened by a defeat in December 3 local elections that was largely blamed on corruption scandals involving his top advisors. Yu's victory may also help former party chairman Su Tseng-chang, who supported Yu's bid and is the front-runner to be the DPP candidate for president in 2008. Yu has pledged to improve coordination between the party and President Chen and his main task as chairman will be to organize the party's efforts in a series of important upcoming elections, culminating in the 2008 presidential election. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Former Premier and Presidential Office Secretary General Yu Shyi-kun, with the tacit support of President Chen Shui-bian, was elected DPP party chairman on January 15, garnering 54.44 percent of the votes. Yu fills the vacancy created by the departure of Su Tseng-chang, who stepped down in December to take responsibility for the DPP's defeat in local elections. Yu won over Legislator Trong Chai (Tsai Tong-rong),a pro-independence fundamentalist supported by Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien, and former Changhua County Magistrate Wong Chin-chu, who entered the race at the last minute at the behest of retired DPP Chairman Lin I-hsiung, a critic of the president's leadership. Chai won 36.11 percent and Wong 9.45 percent of the vote. The turnout of eligible voters was just 19.96 percent, which reflects the current low level of enthusiasm within the party and the efforts by the leadership, including President Chen, to keep this election low-key. ¶3. (C) Rather than a contest over issues, most observers here view the party chairman election as a combination of two related power struggles. One was President Chen's struggle to reconsolidate his power, which was weakened by the DPP's defeat in December 3 local elections and the resultant criticism of the president's leadership. The other struggle pitted a loose alliance of the president, Yu Shyi-kun, Su Tseng-chang, and the reformist New Tide faction against a SIPDIS rival ad hoc alliance of Vice President Lu, Premier Hsieh Chang-ting, and Trong Chai. This latter struggle primarily involved competition for advantage in the run up to the 2008 presidential election among the four leading DPP contenders, the so-called "four princes": Su, Yu, Lu, and Hsieh. The results of the chairman election were that President Chen regained ground in efforts to stabilize his power, and that Su and Yu won over Lu and Hsieh in their battle for position heading toward the 2008 election. ¶4. (C) The outcome of the party chairman election has set the stage for further developments in the power game within the DPP. On January 17 Frank Hsieh announced his resignation as premier. One of the leading candidates to take Hsieh's position is Su Tseng-chang. (See septel). ¶5. (C) During her brief tenure as acting chair, Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien has come under strong criticism for taking an activist rather than a caretaker approach to her temporary position and for not maintaining neutrality on the party chairman election. Just before the election, Lu made a public statement that was clearly intended to favor Chai and during the first of two televised debates between the candidates, she mouthed a cue to Chai to address the issue of China's offer to give two pandas to Taiwan. Yu and Lu make no pretense of cooperation. In response to Lu's statement that she intended to remain acting chairman until February 8, Yu quickly announced plans to take office prior to the Chinese New Year holiday, which begins January 28. ¶6. (C) Yu, a cautious DPP moderate, has worked for President Chen in a variety of positions since the time Chen was mayor of Taipei, and he is regarded as Chen's favored candidate to be the DPP presidential nominee in 2008, though Su is very TAIPEI 00000158 002 OF 002 far ahead of Yu and other potential candidates in public opinion polls. As party chairman Yu says he will try to restore unity to a party divided by the defeat in December 3 local elections, and he has pledged to improve coordination between the party and President Chen. Yu's main task will be to organize preparations for an important series of upcoming elections, including Taipei and Kaohsiung city elections this year, legislative elections in 2007, and the presidential election in March 2008. PAAL