In Taiwan’s elections over the weekend, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held onto the Presidential Office, but neither the DPP nor the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) were able to secure a majority in the legislature. The two parties are now considering their options on how to form a coalition with smaller parties, including the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The new legislature will begin its first session on February 1, when a new legislative speaker and deputy speaker will be elected.
DPP majority leader Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) says that his party intends to renominate current speaker You Xi-kun (游錫堃) to remain in his role. However, Ker says any legislative alliances needed to keep You as speaker would require consensus within the party and the new administration of President-elect Lai Ching-te (賴清德).
Former KMT vice presidential candidate Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) has advocated for a blue-white or KMT-TPP legislative coalition, saying that the KMT should offer the role of deputy legislative speaker to the TPP. Some KMT legislators, such as Chen Yu-chen (陳玉珍) have publicly supported Jaw’s idea.
Other KMT legislators such as Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) have expressed a less urgent sense to form a strong coalition. Lin says that the KMT has the largest number of seats in the legislature and does not need to give too much in negotiations. He says the blue-white alliance already suffered one major embarrassment during the meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, when the Hou-Ko joint presidential ticket fell apart. However, he says the roles of legislative speaker and deputy speaker are only individual positions and will not change the overall conditions in the legislature.