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YESTERDAY'S elections will serve as a platform for Taiwan's first presidential election next March - and for trench warfare in the new Legislative Yuan.

  The ruling KMT narrowly retained its majority in form, but may have lost it in substance.

  Virtually the only issue in the campaign was concern over political power - whether the KMT would maintain its domination over the parliament.

  Policy position papers and platforms carefully prepared by the main opposition DPP and the smaller New Party received far less media attention than the question of whether balloting would end with 'no party in a majority'.

   In the end, the electorate decided to put the brakes on the KMT's ability to dominate the island's legislative agenda.

  The ruling party hung on to its nominal majority by winning at least 85 of the 164 seats in the new legislature, down from 96.

  But the result can hardly be seen as a vote of confidence. The KMT's share of the popular vote fell below 50 per cent for the first time in a central government election, partly but not entirely due to the formation of the New Party.

  Moreover, the customary poor attendance in parliament of a not inconsiderable number of the KMT winners may well prevent President Lee from exercising full control of the Legislative Yuan.

  As both DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh and New Party secretary-general Jaw Shao-kang warned, KMT leaders might be faced with what will be tantamount to blackmail from vested interests and small factions playing on the party's precarious grasp on power.

  Major concessions may be needed to secure approval for Mr Lee's choice of premier and Legislative Yuan speaker after the body assembles in February, and to ensure the passage of key laws or budgets.

  The DPP may be in a better position to press for a say in cross-strait, defence and overseas policies, now the exclusive province of the KMT.

  DPP leader Mr Shih last night said: 'The first re-election of the Legislative Yuan three years ago ended the '10,000-year parliament'; this vote ended the KMT's half-century monopoly on political power.'    Contrary to KMT secretary-general Hsu Shui-teh's statement that the result showed 'the people cannot accept no majority in the legislature', the ruling party's 46 per cent vote share could 'hardly been seen as a vote of confidence'.

  The KMT's failure to win more than 50 per cent of the vote overcomes any gain in prestige arising from the recovery of the Chiayi city seat by Mr Lee's protege Vincent Siew, who triumphed over a DPP incumbent. It may indicate that the President himself may have difficulties gaining a majority in the March ballot.

  For its part, the pro-independence DPP made small gains. Its failure to boost its number of seats can be attributed to poor vote distribution.

   But the lack of improvement in the overall vote share - virtually the same as in December 1992 - might show the party's efforts to win confidence in its administration abilities has not improved as far as it hoped.

  The biggest gain in seats was notched up, as expected, by the New Party, whose leaders broke away from the KMT more than two years ago. But its 13 per cent vote share does not reflect popular approval of the New Party's clear anti-independence stand; rather it is the result of a division in the 'mainlander' wing of the KMT, clearly alienated with Mr Lee's localisation of the ruling party into what many now call the 'Taiwan KMT'.

   Although KMT's 46 per cent vote share may hint at a positive result for Mr Lee in the upcoming presidential race, DPP vice-presidential candidate and legislator Frank Hsieh Chang-ting expects that the boost given to the New Party might spur its further growth and lead to even more defections from the ruling party.

  While the vote for the New Party indicates that its presidential candidate is far from likely to unseat Mr Lee, Mr Hsieh said DPP candidate Dr Peng Ming-min was not out of the picture.



Stage set for trench warfare