The print press and TV news gave intensive coverage to election day results. Winners and losers, scholars and politicians were invited in flocks by the major newspapers to comment. They very generally agreed that the majority vote for the KMT was, one more time, a confidence vote in the major policies and personalities of the KMT and its overall record in national security, economic stability and prosperity, and democracy. The setback to the loosely grouped non-party members was laid to numerous causes not the least, their own internal conflicts. The non-party, candidates drew about 25 percent of the total votes, but took only 12 percent of total seats.
Kang Ning-hsiang's surprise loss caught both opponents and supporters flatfooted. The non-party "down with Kang movement" had been in operation about a year, but general wisdom on election day still credited him with the ability to pull one of the highest individual vote totals in the city. He told his down hearted supporters in the election's wake, that it was now time for a little self-examination. "Don't be disappointed in the democracy on Taiwan because of my election failure. Your hard work was not only for my election success, but for the benefit of the generations to come."
The results, in any case, were a big blow to the non-party grouping and a heartening victory for the ruling party.
Following the elections, the Free China Review conducted interviews with the KMT committee chairmen in the island's two largest cities—Taipei and Kaohsiung. Their interviews provide inside north-south island views of how the KMT won the elections.
John C. Kuan, who won his Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in the U.S., was appointed chairman of the Taipei city committee of the KMT in 1981. That year, elections for Taipei city councilmen were held, resulting in the success of all nominees of the non-party grouping. Dr. Kuan was reportedly criticized within the KMT as a result. In any case, he reacted by concentrating on grassroots rebuilding work over the past three years. And now, the results of the 1983 legislative elections are in: seven KMT nominees in the Taipei electoral district amassed the seven highest vote totals.
FCR—Dr. Kuan, seven KMT nominees in Taipei came in with the highest vote for the eight multiple-contest seats. It is a grand victory for you as well as your party. Can you now tell us your campaign strategy?
Kuan—Well, our society has been moving rapidly, and one of my main thrusts was to help the electorate understand the KMT's positions and future plans. To do this, in the past few years we have put a great deal of effort into grassroots organizing. So you may say, for one thing, that we have been more effective in mobilizing our supporters this time out. Another aspect is that, with the accord and within the guidelines of our party's central committee, our campaign activities and materials, especially our print materials, have been more flexible and innovative. I can not tell exactly how effective any element was, but I can sure tell you that we did not let opposition candidates leave us behind.
FCR—Can you give me a few specific examples to illustrate your campaign strategy?
Kuan—Sure, let's take print materials for example. From our point of view, numerous speeches and print materials of the non-party candidates were damaging to the fiber—the solidarity and stability of our society. This time we decided to strike back. We used the titles of five popular songs as themes for five posters.
The first one was Remembering..., from the popular folk song by the excellent (Taiwanese folk) singer Chen Ta. In this way we reminded our people of the hardships of our past—that every inch of our progress was earned by our blood, sweat, and tears.
The second was Growing An Inch Overnight, a lullaby known to every mother in the city. We hoped the public would understand this message—that a growing process relies on evolution, not revolution.
The third one was The Rain Will Always Stop Falling, a slight change from the title of the tune by Hong Jung-hong—Why Does the Rain Never Stop Falling? The implication here is that none of us should be discouraged by the temporary "falling rains"—the problems faced by our country. We all really know that rain stops falling...and that we have then passed another difficult time.
The fourth was The Same Moonlight, the theme song from the recent hit movie Papa—Can You Hear Me Sing? The song is still top of the top-ten here. We used the title of the song to tell the voters that we are descended from the same ancestors, and should not feel differently toward each other. We should be united.
The fifth, Asian Orphans is a popular song by rock singer Lo Ta-yu, originally a dedication to the suffering of the Vietnamese. We used its message to ask our people to cherish what we have now, not to quarrel among ourselves. We don't want the fate of Vietnam.
I think we got our message across.
FCR—Kang Ning-hsiang, Huang Huang-hsiug, and Chang Teh-min (three incumbent legislators and the so-called "Mainstreamers" or moderate reformers for the non-party grouping) lost their seats. What will be the impact of that loss?
Kuan—They are skilled at interpellation and they work hard. For a ruling party, they constitute a rational opposition. So it is sad. But we must also understand that it was the result of internal conflict among non-party members.
FCR—The non-party people separated into two de facto groups—the "association for assistance to non-party members" and the "Formosa Magazine solid liners"—in this election. Fan Su-min and Hsu Jung-shu took 121,204 votes and 118,898 votes respectively, ranking third and fifth among the highest vote getters. (Ed. Note—wives of leaders of 1979 violent demonstrations led by an opposition political grouping centered around Formosa Magazine. Fan's two daughters and mother-in-law were murdered while husband Lin Yi-hsiung was under detention for trial.) But other candidates among the "Formosa Magazine solid liners" lost. Could you explain?
Kuan—Well, any open society has varying degrees of opposition. And oppositionist feelings must be let out, and then identify with certain political figures. Basically, there is no doubt that Fan and Hsu represent many non-party people. But really, who represents the non-party impulse is not as important as the fact that there is someone to represent them. For example, if Fan had not run, Huang Huang-hsiung (another non-party candidate) would have been elected. Since many people sympathize strongly with Fan's grief, it is understandable that she received so many votes. About Hsu—in her district, no one has so strong a color of the non-party member as she, so it was predicated that she would easily take the seat. But also, those who say that the non-party people can only appeal to sympathy voters are wrong. The non-party grouping has its basic political supporters, although they constitute a limited percentage of the electorate.
FCR—Although the newly revised election laws aimed to reduce the influence of money in the elections, we still heard that some candidates were out buying votes. What is you reaction?
Kuan—Buying votes is an existing and sorry fact in many countries' elections, including ours. It will not disappear all at once because new laws are passed by the legislators. We should not feel discouraged because vote buying still exists in these elections. We should also be aware of the reverse image—the actual situation is that such bribery was sharply reduced and the new laws' impact on the elections was quite apparently beneficial.
FCR—During the elections, many non-party candidates criticized your party in very provocative ways. KMT candidates did not react in an equal manner. Why?
Kuan—For those who consider themselves in a weakened, more limited position, the use of radical language to get attention is understandable. Furthermore, it is tolerable to us, as a ruling party. But rhetoric that damaged the national interest, our candidates did rebut—such as the "self-determination" slogan. If any legal problems were raised, they solely concern the government, not us. Basically, we have no interest in getting an eye for an eye in campaign attacks. But name calling can go too far, and it is also human nature to strike back.
FCR—If democracy means party politics, it also means an opposition. In this election, the KMT swept 62 of the 71 seats. Why not nominate fewer candidates and let the opposition take more seats?
Kuan—It is not really a matter of letting. How many seats opposition candidates should win in an election should not be up to us, but to the voters. The image favored by non-party members can only attract a certain portion of the total electorate, so they can only win a limited number of seats. If we were to nominate fewer candidates, that would result in internal conflict for us. Really, our party has immense political capital and many qualified candidates. If we do not nominate fully, how can we stop our members from running for open seats on their own? The results would either be a serious challenge to party discipline, or prospective candidates would become oppositionists to our party. Why should we do it?
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Wu Wan-lan, associate professor of public administration at National Chung Hsing University, was named chairman of the Kaohsiung city committee of the KMT in February 1983. He climbed up the political ladder via service to his party and local government. Remote from the seat of the central government, Kaohsiung electoral conditions are comparatively complex. 1n 1983's elections, four newcomers were nominated by the KMT under Wu's leadership, and all were elected. On his first electoral assignment in Kaohsiung, Wu has delivered.
FCR—Chairman Wu, it is said that in Kaohsiung local politics is dominated by special interest groups. As a leader of the ruling party here, how do you mediate among them?
Wu—People group together for various reasons—kinship, localism, vocation, ideology, friendship, material rewards, etc. So, as long as there are elections, there will be various kinds of "brokerage" organizations. In Kaohsiung, it is true that some groups are very influential, but the present trend is to an increasing percentage of younger residents. Young voters, those under 40 years old, now constitute 61 percent of our electorate. And these young people do not attach to a particular interest group as strongly as the older people.
For example, people used to call the voters of the "community of military families" (referring mostly to mainland-born Chinese and their offspring) the "iron tickets," meaning they would only vote KMT. But that situation does not exist anymore, because many young people from that "community" have married Taiwanese, and their outlook has diluted inclinations towards acting like two different groups. The main function of the ruling party here is to steer all interest groups to work together for the benefit of Kaohsiung city, not to quarrel with each other. We induce the different groups to identify with KMT nominees as their representatives.
FCR—You have four new faces. They all got elected. It is quite remarkable. Just what was your nomination policy and your strategy?
Wu—About the nomination policy, we were concerned about regional and professional interests. First we divided Kaohsiung electoral district into four sections, each section with one nominee to represent it. After that, we considered which section should represent business and industry, which one educational groups, women's groups, and organized professions. Then, we did a survey of our party members to reflect their evaluations of would-be-nominees.
Sun Li-kung was chosen to represent the northern section and professionals; Wu Te-mei, the southern section and women's groups; Wang Chin-lien, the western section and commercial enterprises; Wu Tsun-hsiung, the eastern section and educational groups. Our four candidates don't have advanced education degrees, and they are not rich people, but they are caliber people.
About the strategy, I asked them to go out and find out their constituents's needs and align themselves with them. The party did mobilization work for them. Our print materials focused on their man-on-the-street backgrounds—a teacher, a machanic, a radio reporter etc.
FCR—How about a profile of the voters of Kaohsiung?
Wu—Compared to Taipei, Kaohsiung city's educational level is quite low. Only 11 percent of our total population has a college education, and 68 percent received less than a junior high education. We have a tremendous blue-collar labor force—57.4, plus another 15.1 percent who are fishermen. So we have focused both our organizational mobilization work and our messages. We know that here, a fancy high education degree is not as decisive as in some other cities, like Taipei.
FCR—Did you encounter any major problems during the election?
Wu—Whether a problem is major or minor is really difficult to define. I can't think of any particular one that really bothered me. I think those inclined to disruptions are aware of the government's firm position on the elections, so everything went quite smoothly. I think the new election law has shown its beneficial impact on the election. And I appreciate the hard work of the electoral officials.
FCR—Some people complained that the new election laws put too many restrictions on campaign activities, so the electioneering process this year was too quiet. What is your opinion?
Wu—It is true that this election has been orderly—but it certainly has not been conducted quietly. And that is the main purpose of the new election laws. You may be aware that we have a much reduced campaign litter-pollution problem (due to restrictions in the new law on posters). But extensive coverage of the electioneering process by all the media, and people in their thousands gathering before the speaking platforms—all of that certainly showed that the elections were not quiet.