Extraordinary Session of KMT 15th Party Congress Seeks New Start

At the extraordinary meeting of the 15th Party Congress of the KMT, on June 17 Acting Chairman Lien Chan was formally elected chairman with 94.8% of the vote. Because Lien was the only candidate, his election was a foregone conclusion. In his opening speech to the meeting, Lien had especially emphasized that the KMT defeat in the presidential election was due to its own mistakes, so that the most important task for the party at the moment was to eliminate "black gold" (the influence of crime and moneyed interests in the party) and to clean up its political act.

On June 18, the KMT delegates in attendance passed by acclamation the slate of five party vice-chairpersons proposed by Lien. These included Vincent Siew (formerly premier), Wang Jin-pyng (currently speaker of the Legislative Yuan), Chiang Chung-ling (a former minister of defense), Wu Po-hsiung (former secretary-general to the president), and Helen Lin, former head of the Council for Cultural Affairs. (The last named is widely believed to have been added to lend some gender balance.)

Amid calls for reform, the election for the Central Standing Committee (CSC) was especially robust. Nearly 100 candidates contended. The top three vote-getters were former Council for Economic Planning and Development chairman Chiang Ping-kun, former speaker of the National Assembly Chen Chin-jang, and Huang Chao-shun, a woman legislator.

In the 12 years that the KMT has been promoting intra-party democracy, this is the first time that every seat on the CSC was up for grabs. After the vote, 18 of the 31 members were new, with 13 holdovers. Of particular interest is that 12 members of the Legislative Yuan were voted in to the CSC, so that they now account for more than one-third of that body. Since the KMT's defeat in the presidential election, the Legislative Yuan has become the most important political platform for the party. It is generally believed that the CSC election result will help bring about better coordination between the party center and the legislative caucus. Tseng Yung-chuan, director of the KMT's Legislative Yuan work committee, said that in future the caucus' opinions will be transmitted directly to the party center, so that the views of the party center and those of its elected officials can be better coordinated.

In this reshuffle of party leadership, 11 of the CSC seats are now held by members of the last administration. This could prove useful in creating a "shadow cabinet" mechanism. In addition, as widely noted in the media, virtually all of the 13 incumbents on the CSC are closely associated with Lien Chan; it appears that Lee Teng-hui's influence has been excluded from the party center.

Besides elections for party chairman and CSC, the session also amended the party rules and passed a party reform plan. A series of decisions were passed by acclamation on June 18, including: future election of the party chairman by direct vote of party members; setting aside of quotas for youth, women, and disadvantaged groups; new rules for nominations for public office; a plan to reduce the influence of "black gold" from public and party office; new rules on party discipline; and transparency of party assets.

Within three to six months of the end of the provisional session, the KMT plans to have completed a full review of party membership. Then there will be a direct election for the party chairman next June. In addition, in future special quotas will be set aside for youth, women, and disadvantaged groups to hold a total of 40% of the seats in party congresses, the Central Committee, and the CSC.

As for nominations, in the future party nominations for president, municipal mayors, directly-elected legislators, county and city executives, and municipal councilors will be made as a result of an intra-party primary plus public opinion surveys, each weighted at 50 percent. It is hoped that this will bring party nominations closer to general public opinion. Nominees for National Assembly members and legislators selected by party quota and from overseas, who are not directly elected by voters, will be selected by a party committee, reviewed by the central committee, and sent for final approval to the chairman.

Perhaps the most public attention was focussed on the "black gold" issue. The KMT's new party reform program stipulates that those with criminal records or "black gold" records will be excluded from party or public office. In addition, anyone who has been disciplined by the party for one year or more will be ineligible to participate in elections for party chairman or CSC.

With regard to party assets, a committee of experts and scholars will be formed to submit a plan on putting party assets in trust. This plan, which will cover the scope of party assets to be put in trust, should be completed within three months. Meanwhile, the KMT's seven holding companies will be streamlined into three. Handling of assets will be made more public, and the government purchasing law will be applied within reason to party operations, in an attempt to prevent corruption and to resolve outside doubts about party assets. New norms for handling party assets are to be completed and made public within three months.

This extraordinary meeting of the KMT Party Congress made only a first step in party reform. There is a somewhat fresh look to the new party center and to the party reform plan. But for the KMT, these are only the start. The real keys to success will be whether implementation is thorough, whether obstacles met in the course of reform can be overcome, and whether the party center and the legislative wing can work together.

No matter how the political environment may evolve, to have a healthy political party system and parties that are internally democratic will benefit all of Taiwan's people. Since the KMT's reform will affect the future of Taiwan's democracy, citizens have high expectations.

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Lien Chan was formally elected party chairman at the extraordinary session of the 15th Party Congress; happy young party members hoisted him up in celebration.