Democratic Progressive Partys tough battle: Taiwans nine -in -one election

Author: Guan Zhongran

Next week (November 24) is the election of the Jiuhe local public officials in Taiwan, and local public officials (from the village chief to the mayor) will be generated in this election.This time, the local elections are two years apart from the last presidential and legislature elections, which can be regarded as a mid -term election of the DPP government led by President Tsai Ing -wen.

The nine -in -one election is a local election. The focus of candidates is concentrated in local politics.Therefore, as Dr. Lin Quanzhong recently wrote, the mayor of the six capitals of the Kuomintang, the candidates of the Kuomintang's six capitals, have chosen to avoid the new three of the two sides of the strait.If you do n’t talk about the two sides of the strait, it can be said that this election is about local politics and unreasonable independence; but from a more realistic perspective, if the cross -strait issue is the theme of the seller of this issue, how can there be political ethics and morality, it really will really be located in the place.Election is left for local politics?

In addition to the production of local public officials, there are as many as 10 referendum motion at the same time, which can be called a ten -in -one election.At the end of last year, the referendum law amended the law to reduce the legal voting age of the referendum to 18 years old, while the legal voting age of the public official election continued to remain at the age of 20.In these ten -in -one elections, the most noticeable is the election of the mayor of the Liudu municipality. The relevant mayor's election battle is talked about to discuss another article.

The DPP will face difficult election campaigns

The DPP has performed better and better in the local elections in recent years., Tainan, Kaohsiung) The votes are higher than that of the Kuomintang (Taipei and Taichung are only one seat than the Kuomintang).The DPP can achieve good results in the last session, because the Sunflower Study Games just happened that year, while Ma Ying -jeou and the Kuomintang led by his leadership.However, although it is the best selection of the DPP, the seats obtained are still nearly 100 seats less than the Kuomintang, accounting for only about one -third of all seats.In terms of local politics elections, traditional local resources (that is, we are familiar with snakes, Pork and Barrel) are still important, and the rigid political parties can naturally provide more benefits to voters.This also explains why the Kuomintang led the fall into the trough at the time, and could still become a political party with the most seats without any doubt.

When he came to the city councilor election this year, the competition was more intense than the previous session. Among the 22 municipalities, counties and cities in Taiwan, 16 municipalities, counties and cities have more cities in the previous session.Taking Taipei City as an example, the last 108 people ran for 63 seats. This year, it has increased to 124 people to compete for the same number of seats. For the two major parties, the DPP will face each other.A more difficult election campaign.In the 2016 election, the Kuomintang was for the first time to lose the control of the president and the Legislative Yuan at the same time, which attracted the saying of the dead party.Although the Kuomintang did not have the trend of rejuvenation, and there was no outstanding political leader born (such as the Democratic Progressive Party of the DPP in 2008), the election of this game has always been this game. Except for themselves, it is more important that the other party's performance is the performance of the other party's performance.EssenceFor the Kuomintang, instead of waiting for the leader's appearance, they are not as good as the DPP's ruling failure.

The Kuomintang is better to watch the Democratic Progressive Party's failure

From annuity reform, restarted nuclear (second nuclear power plant) to same -sex marriage, the DPP's governance is disappointing, especially most people can control the President and the Legislative Yuan for the first time for the DPP for the first time.Full of hope.There is no Sunflower Study this year, and the Kuomintang led by Wu Dunyi has not drilled deeper. The DPP's election is naturally difficult.For the Democratic Progressive Party, in addition to the Kuomintang, their opponents also need to cope with the third largest party MDASH; MDash; the challenges of the times.The power of the times was more than 3 years. The first election of the last time he won 5 seats in the Legislative Yuan and became the third largest party in the parliament.The election of the city council this time is of great significance for their survival and even Taiwan's party system.

In the past, the small party in Taiwan, such as the Democratic Party, the New Party, the Taiwan Federation, etc., with the change of the election system and the weakness of the leaders (such as Lee Teng -hui, Song Chuyu).Even in the most prosperous period of these small parties, it is easy to attribute these parties to the blue and green camps, because most of these small parties have received them from the Kuomintang or the DPP.Compared with these small parties, although the power of the times is easy to give people the image of the green camp because of the Taiwan independence program, it is observed that they have performed in the Legislative Yuan in the past two years.) And the participation of this election, the power of the times has shown a completely different nature and style from the previous small party, and achieves the effect of the third forces.

Time Power nominated 40 people to run for city councilors in this year. In terms of the number of nominations, it is also the third largest party (after the Kuomintang and the DPP).The background of the candidate is mainly young and professionals, and there is no traditional political color. Even if a candidate has been related to the DPP in the past, it is only an assistant to the Democratic Progressive Party.Unlike the 2016 Legislative Yuan election, this election has not coordinated with the DPP. On the one hand, it shows that the relationship between the two parties is different from two years ago.(Multiple seats cannot be transferred, Single Non-Transferable Vote), that is, it is not that you die and die, and naturally there is no need to coordinate.

Battle of the Time Power

Under the old small party's natural style, the power of the times is the most opportunity to stand in the Taiwan political party system that is the most opportunity for the Kuomintang and the DPP.EssenceIf they succeed in making good results in this local election, it means that they can get local resources, and the political parties can mature and develop. The legislative elections will naturally have a bargaining power with the DPP. If they lose, it is equivalent to equalWithout coordination with the Democratic Progressive Party, you cannot win the election, nor do you have no new resources to support the development of political parties in the future.

Faced with the sophisticated Kuomintang and the menacing time, the DPP must maintain the steady results of the elections in the past few sessions in the past few sessions.At the same time as the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party fight, this election will also determine whether the power of the times can truly become Taiwan's third forces.

The author is a doctoral candidate for the University of London's Asian African College, a short -term scholar at the European Contemporary Taiwan Research Center at the University of Dopinen, Germany