United Daily News Editorial/Voters don’t care about Hou Ke or Ke Hou, but Blue and White must work together to win | Editorial | Comments

Lan Baihe reached the last moment and got stuck again. The reason is that the two sides have different understandings of the “error range”, which ultimately resulted in two outcomes: five to one and three to three. Judging from Ke Wenzhe’s bidding and changes of attitude along the way, this development is not unexpected, and it does not mean that the cooperation will definitely break down. But if both parties still have voters in mind, they should put aside some small-interest calculations to avoid making their opponents laugh. Judging from various polls, both Hou Ke and Ke Houpei are better than Lai Xiaopei. This is what voters care about. As for who is in charge and who is deputy, most voters don’t care at all.

Ko Wenzhe must strive for “the right thing”, and his ambition is worthy of respect; however, he must also consider the reality of the gap in political strength between the two parties. In fact, last Wednesday, under the witness of Ma Ying-jeou, the blue and white reached a six-point consensus and jointly signed it. Ke Wenzhe was obviously mentally prepared to “be the deputy.” Because of this, there are constant rumors about who is crying or who wants to resign in the People’s Party. Including Ke Wenzhe’s mother and wife, they all felt “aggrieved” for him. Peggy Chen also explained that the only reason for Ke Wenzhe’s concession was to “consolidate the opposition and achieve political party rotation.” It can be seen that at the time of signing, Ke Wenzhe must have had some estimates of his own success in the polls and knew that he might be his deputy.

Just imagine, the four Ma, Zhu, and Houke negotiated and agreed to adopt a “universal poll” and abandon the Japanese model or the German model that the Blue Camp originally insisted on. In fact, they were accommodating to Ke Wenzhe’s insistence, and he also signed on the spot to agree. If Ke Wenzhe keeps thinking about his own grievances but fails to see the concessions of others, he would be lacking in empathy. How can a person who wants to ascend to a high position be so self-centered?

Observing the controversy over the Blue and White polls yesterday, the Kuomintang and the People’s Party finally decided to include six polls and successively deleted polls such as Formosa Electronic News, Ettoday and “Haohaolisten”. Although the reasons are different, these excluded polls are actually unfavorable to Ke Wenzhe and beneficial to Hou Youyi, and these three polls have been quite accurate in predicting elections and referendums in the past. The final polls compiled by both parties were, in addition to Blue and White’s respective “internal reference” polls, two other agencies that had participated in the polls produced by the Popular Party. It can be seen that the blue camp made considerable concessions to Ke Wenzhe in the selection of polls.

The blue camp’s agreement to conduct a nationwide poll was a concession to the white camp; Ke Wenzhe’s agreement to “be courteous within the error range” was a concession to Hou Youyi. Therefore, the Kuomintang’s final concession to the People’s Party on the choice of polling method should also be a sign of goodwill. Since both sides are trying to “take into account the overall situation”, but in the end they are stuck because of a mere error, can it be considered wise? Moreover, the margin of error should be clearly communicated on the day of signing. It would be too immature to make a comeback at the last minute.

In fact, for the majority of voters who are eager for political party rotation, there is not much difference between Hou Kepei or Ke Hou. As long as Blue and White can cooperate to defeat the DPP, it does not matter who is the leader and who is the deputy. Comparing the new polls released recently, both Hou Ke and Ke Hou defeated Lai Xiaopei by a large margin, and the support between the two parties was also similar. It showed that both groups had the same support from voters and had the same chance of winning. From a theoretical point of view, it is reasonable to calculate the error range of the poll in terms of “plus and minus values”; but on the other hand, Ke Wenzhe believes that the final showdown will be “Lai Xiaopei”. If the Kuomintang only focuses on “winning against Ke Wenzhe”, it will not significance. Both statements seem to have their own truths. The problem is that Blue and White must cooperate to have a chance of winning. If they want to win, they can only win together. If they separate, they will lose. So, don’t the two sides focus their dispute on the calculation of “opinion error” and lose sight of the overall situation?

Regardless of the error figures, looking at the final polls of both parties yesterday, one was tied three to three, and the other was Hou Youyi’s victory five to one. If such a result is to be interpreted as Ke Wenzhe winning, of course it is unscientific and illogical. At best, it can only be said that the two sides are tied. So, do both parties want to return to the situation of drawing lots?

We would like to remind that if the blue and white parties want to work together, both parties must behave like a team with a central idea and speak out for justice in order to win the support of the largest number of voters. If they fight overtly and covertly with each other, and are always sarcastic or secretly slanderous, it will only offend voters.