DPP seeks opposition alliance in Legislature: CNA

DPP leaders met with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of collaboration in the Legislature, according to the Central News Agency (CNA).

Both sides agreed that it is the opposition's duty to monitor the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and they can cooperate on a case-by-case basis, the CNA said.

Their initial cooperation will focus on social and economic issues, the CNA said.

The CNA report did not indicate which leaders from the main opposition party met with Soong.

Asked if any consensus was reached during the meeting on the opposition alliance's form of collaboration, DPP legislative leader Ker Chien-ming declined to comment.

But Ker maintained that both parties could work together to monitor the KMT.

The KMT, which still has a comfortable majority in the Legislature despite losing several seats in the January elections, does not seem to be worried by the opposition's move.

Lin Hung-chi, head of the ruling party's Central Policy Committee that supervises its lawmakers, said the opposition alliance is unlikely to be able to block KMT-forwarded bills unless the proposed policies are “very controversial.”

The Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) leader in the Legislature, Hsu Chung-hsin, approved the idea of forming an opposition alliance, which was first put forth by Ker.

Hsu said that as the DPP and TSU are closer in terms of disputes over Taiwan's sovereignty, they can collaborate on a wide range of issues.

The scope of cooperation between the DPP and PFP may be narrower because of their different stances concerning the sovereignty issue, he added.

The DPP and TSU are both from the so-called “pan-green” camp that emphasizes Taiwan's status as a sovereign country. The PFP is a member of the “pan blue” camp that is keen to build up ties with China, which sees Taiwan as a renegade province.

Also on Wednesday, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei met with his DPP counterpart Tsai Ing-wen to seek support for a motion to revise the constitution concerning the election system, the CNA reported.

The TSU has called for changes to the election system to improve smaller parties' chances of taking seats in the Legislature.

The current system which elects only one legislator from each electoral district is said to be unfair to smaller parties.

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