wn as chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party tomorrow. "As he promised," Hsieh's campaign spokesman Chao Tien-lin said, "Chairman Hsieh will resign and tender his resignation to the party's central standing committee."
Hsieh vowed to quit in the run-up to the election if he was defeated. He also promised not to run for public office for the rest of his life.
The DPP Central Standing Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning to act on Hsieh's resignation. Hsieh's resignation will be accepted.
Chao said Hsieh wants to be a "spiritual leader" of the now opposition party. "He will retire from active service but continue to promote the party's cause across the country," he pointed out.
It's up to the central standing committee to choose an acting chairman, who may then be elected at the end of May to lead the party.
The party is expected to call a national congress after May 20 to elect a new chairman. Infighting started right after the party's election disaster, with heavyweights jostling to replace Hsieh as acting chairman.
One early starter was Yu Shyi-kung, a former DPP chairman and an ex-premier. He had to step down as party chairman when he was indicted for corruption in the lead-up to the presidential election.
President Chen Shui-bian replaced Yu. Chen gave up his concurrent party job after the DPP lost the legislative elections last Jan. 12. Hsieh took over from him.
A heavily favored candidate for acting chairman was Su Tseng-chang, Hsieh's running mate.
But Su was opposed by President Chen's supporters. Lawmaker Lawrence Kao, Chen's confidant, said Su couldn't be elected acting chairman, because he wasn't a member of the central standing committee. According to the party bylaw, the committee has to elect an acting chairman from among its members.
Asked to comment, Su said: "I have served as party chairman. If someone wants to take the job, he has all my support." But he didn't categorically deny plans to take the job as acting chairman. A few central standing members support Luo Wen-jia for acting chairman.
A reformer, Luo served as a legislator and chairman of the Council for Hakka Affairs. He was a close aide to President Chen. But he lost the county magistrate election two years ago and also the Jan. 12 election.
At any rate, 13 central standing committee members will meet to elect a compromise acting chairman. But even then the compromise party leader may not win the election at the national congress near the end of May.
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