Tsai made the remarks before attending a New Spring greeting gathering of the Yunlin County Fellow Natives Association in Taipei yesterday evening. Chairman Huang Kun-hui of the Taiwan Solidarity Union and Deputy Yunlin Magistrate Lee Ying-yuan were also present at the meeting.

The DPP head said that a provisional Central Standing Committee meeting of the party will be held today to discuss action plans concerning the year-end election of local county and city chiefs and key tasks the DPP will undertake this year.

Tsai stressed there is no discrepancy, as alleged by some news media, among party members about the route the DPP will take for its future direction. Instead, she stressed, party leaders have developed a consensus that the two-pronged tactics of social movement and parliament orientation will be practiced simultaneously.

Some news media have mistakenly narrowed the "social movement route" to "street movement." Actually, social movement covers aspects as social reform subjects, political system reform and thinking modes.

Today's tentative central standing committee meeting will be dedicated to discussions on what the DPP should do this year, including election campaigns concerning the year-end county and city chief polls.

When asked to comment on the remarks made by former Premier Su Tsen-chang, who was also a former Taipei county magistrate, to join the year-end election as DPP's candidate for the Taipei county magistrate, Tsai said that she didn't read any similar media reports, and it's too early for her to comment on any possibilities on this issue as the Taipei county candidate nomination is still under way.

Tsai also reiterated that her major mission is to help the DPP win the year-end election of local county and city chiefs, not runn in the election on her own as a candidate for a county or city chief position.

In fact, the future development route for the DPP is likely to spark heated debates at today's central standing committee meeting of the party, as it will significantly affect the overall image of the DPP and its performance in the year-end elections.

If the DPP tilts toward the social movement, then it will be highly difficult for the party to win support from non-partisan votes. As a result it would be difficult for the party to win year-end elections, political observers said.

Accordingly, how to secure a balance between the social movement and parliament orientation will be an important task facing the DPP and challenge the wisdom of its leaders.

For the year-end elections of county magistrates and city mayors, the DPP is scheduled to complete its nominations by the end of March.

The DPP has decided not to hold a primary to select its nominees and has empowered the party's leadership to make the choices.

The DPP's nomination process will be based on the guidelines issued by chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, under which the nominees must be strong enough to win, have a good public image and are true to the DPP's values, according to the party's deputy secretary general Hung Yao-fu.

In principle, the party will field a candidate in each of the 23 counties and cities covered by the elections, while the nominees in 11 localities have already been selected, Hung said.

Among the localities where a candidate has not yet been selected are Taipei County, Tainan County and Chiayi County -- areas in which the races are expected to be highly competitive.

In Tainan County, former magistrate and former Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Tan-sun, 74, tops other DPP politicians in terms of support rating, but there are differences within the party over whether he should run again in light of his high age, the officials said.

In Chiayi County, incumbent magistrate Chen Ming-wen is strongly opposed to a bid by his wife, Liao Su-hui, to compete in the next election, the officials said, adding that the situation has greatly increased the odds of Legislator Chang Hwa-kuan winning the party's nomination.

On the other hand, the KMT will move to field "suitable" candidates who stand out in terms of integrity, public image and service to local residents, especially in southern counties and cities where the DPP usually has an upper hand

In particular, Yunlin and Kaohsiung counties are considered the two southern localities where the KMT has the best chances of ousting the DPP incumbents.

In Yunlin County, a member of the influential family of former magistrate Chang Jung-wei is likely to represent the KMT in the upcoming election -- a choice that could pose a threat to the DPP as its advantage in the county is not overwhelming, KMT officials said.

In Kaohsiung County, Kaohsiung County Council speaker Hsu Fu-sen will emerge as a strong challenger thanks to his friendly relations with major political factions in the county, the officials said.