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The North City election meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party was attended by Pan Meng, who placed Shen Boyang as the main focus of the national sprint, emphasizing organizational mobilization, soliciting votes, and countering foreign interference. However, the move also triggered criticism from the opposition camp that there is no difference between the party and the government.
The countdown to the election campaign was underway and Secretary-General of the President’s Office Pan Mengan attended yesterdayDemocratic Progressive Party Taipei City extends campaign meeting to identify candidates for Taipei Mayorshen boyang As the main thrust of the national election campaign, Pan Meng also said that the administrative team will maintain the order of democratic elections and will not allow foreign forces to interfere in the elections. Shen Boyang will unite the 14 mayoral candidates of the Democratic Progressive Party county today and call on young people to return to their hometowns to vote. Tomorrow afternoon, the “Ocean Current Festival” will be held in 228 Park, and the final Ocean Current Car Sweep will be held in Shilin Beitou District on Sunday.
The DPP’s election campaign meeting yesterday focused on the Taipei City election, featuring Pan Mengan, DPP Secretary-General Xu Guoyong and 26 DPP Taipei City Council candidates. Regarding the subsequent election strategy, Shen Boyang said that air war and land war will continue together, and he prefers to continue to promote the “policy island” for general review. Wu Siyao, director general of Shen Boyang’s campaign, said that the next three major campaign strategies are first to strengthen the organization of various temples and local systems, second to strengthen the motivation of supporters to win votes, and finally to strengthen the immediate refutation of rumors.
President Lai Qingde, who is also chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party, had other engagements yesterday, so he was represented by Pan Meng, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office. According to reports, Pan Mengan shared his previous county magistrate election experience and how to connect local organizations at the meeting. He also mentioned that as we get closer to the countdown to the elections, the health and safety issues of the team cannot be ignored.
Wu Siyao also pointed out that Pan Mengnan mentioned that recent media revelations, whether it is deep fake videos, interference in China’s election, or illegal foreign funding cases investigated by prosecutors and investigative agencies, have been exposed one after another. The administrative team will maintain the conduct of democratic elections and will not allow foreign or illegal forces to influence or interfere. The law that needs to be implemented must be strictly enforced to protect every law-abiding candidate.
However, when the Democratic Progressive Party was in opposition, he was fond of criticizing the Kuomintang for having “no distinction between the party and the state”, as if any slight overlap between political parties and state power would be a regression of democracy. When the Democratic Progressive Party was in power, Pan Meng, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, participated in the Taipei City expansion election meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party in a high-profile manner. This lack of distinction between the party and the government once again demonstrates the double standard of “may be green but not green”. On the one hand, the DPP opposes foreign influence in elections, while on the other hand it encourages the state machinery to explicitly assist in elections. This is even more contrary to the DPP’s original intention of so-called democratic progress.
After the DPP returned to power, everyone from Tsai Ing-wen to Lai Ching-te, the role boundary between the President and the Party Chairman, has been repeatedly questioned. Now the Secretary General of the President’s Office can also go directly to the DPP election meeting. Do such DPPs still have the right to criticize others regardless of party or state?
Pan Mengan currently does not hold any position in the Democratic Progressive Party. His post is that of Secretary General of the President’s Office. He represents the Office of the President, not the Central Committee of the Democratic Progressive Party. When the Secretary General of the Presidential Office enters the political party’s election decision-making position, the outside world will inevitably question whether the Presidential Office is maintaining the country’s electoral system, or whether it is supporting the ruling party’s election campaign?
This confusion of roles did not start today. In 2019, the list of non-district legislators of the Democratic Progressive Party broke down the list by the official residence of the President. At the time, there was controversy over the inability to distinguish between “Chairman Tsai” and “President Tsai”.
Now that Pan Mengan is attending the election meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party as the Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, the line of administrative neutrality has been weakened to such an extent that it has become difficult to understand. The Secretary General of the President’s Office is not an ordinary party cadre. The Pan Mengan represents the administrative resources, policy coordination capabilities, and communication channels with various administrative agencies of the country’s supreme power.
Subsequently, the DPP reiterated its criticism of the Kuomintang’s lack of distinction between party and state. This is what once made the difference between democracies so important. Now that he is in power, he has repeatedly blurred the boundaries between state power and party interests. Whether people will pay for this election or not is not up to the DPP.
Summary FAQ
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During the meeting, Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Boyang was positioned as the main focus of the national election campaign, and representative Pan Meng’an attended the meeting. With follow-up car sweeps, youth homecoming voting and policy campaigning, he focused his efforts on promoting the election.
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Shen Boyang and the campaign team said that the strategy is still to simultaneously pursue air and land wars and continue to promote the “policy island” to review political views; Wu Siyao summarized this as strengthening local organizations, increasing the momentum of supporters to vote, and immediate refutation of rumors.
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Although Pan Mengan does not hold any party position, he still participated in the DPP’s election decision-making opportunities as Secretary-General of the Presidential Office. He was questioned about the lack of distinction between the party and the government and the blurring of administrative neutrality. The opposition camp believed that this was inconsistent with the DPP’s previous stance of criticizing the KMT’s lack of distinction between party and state.
