Because Lien was the only candidate, his election was a foregone conclusion. In his opening speech to the meeting, Lien had especially emphasized that the KMT defeat in the presidential election was due to its own mistakes, so that the most important task for the party at the moment was to eliminate "black gold" (the influence of crime and moneyed interests in the party) and to clean up its political act.
由於只有連戰一人參選，在選前就被認為篤定當選，連戰在開幕式以代主席身份的致詞當中也特別強調，國民黨在總統大選中的敗選，可以說是敗在自己的手上，所以目前國民黨最急切的任務將是消除黑金與清白問政。