‘Farmers’ Party’ to be inaugurated on June 15

The stage has been set to inaugurate the new party, Hsiao Han-chun announced yesterday.

Hsiao, treasurer of the Kaohsiung county farmers’ association, told the press no “political leaders” have been invited to address the party, which is believed to chip away voter support for the Kuomintang. “We can inaugurate a party, if more than 30 delegates attend the inaugural meeting,” said Hsiao, a close friend and supporter of Legislative Yuan president Wang Jin-pyng.

Wang certainly won’t attend.

In fact, the parliament speaker claimed he didn’t know the new party would be founded.

The inaugural meeting will take place at a hostel on scenic Cheng Ching Lake near the special municipality of Kaohsiung.

Not too many delegates are expected to attend, though Hsiao estimated the attendance at 300.

Leaders of the Taiwan provincial farmers’ association have refused to accept the invitation. So have many treasurers of county and city farmers’ associations.

But Hsiao is confident that the president of the party as well as a central committee of seven to 31 members will be elected. To rally support, Hsiao said, membership is not limited to members of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations. “Anyone who is 18 years old or older can be a member of the Farmers’ Party,” he pointed out.

Those associations are a major power base of the Kuomintang.

Leaders of the opposition party do not believe the Farmers’ Party will exert an “adverse effect” on its campaign for legislative and presidential elections.

“We’ve been friends of farmers and fishermen,” said Ma Ying-jeou, Kuomintang candidate for president. “I don’t think Wang Jin-pyng has anything to do with the new party,” he commented on press reports that the parliament speaker may be pulling the strings from behind the scene. The inauguration of the Farmers’ Party does not mean the Kuomintang will terminate its friendship with farmers and fishermen, said Wu Den-yih, Kuomintang secretary-general.

He denied the Kuomintang will expel any of its members who attend the inaugural meeting of the Farmers’ Party. “It’s too early to talk about that subject,” he said.

That seems to suggest the Kuomintang is worried the new party, if supported by more members of farmers’ and fishermen’s associations, may pose a threat.

These associations have a combined membership of 1.5 million.

The new party won’t field any candidate in the legislative elections scheduled for next January 12. “But,” Hsiao said, “we hope we will garner at least five percent of all the votes cast so that we may have a lawmaker at large.”

Voters are expected to cast two ballots, one for candidate and the other for a political party, to elect 74 regional lawmakers, one each from a single constituency, and 39 others at large, according to proportional representation.