Democratic Electoral Systems

As introduced by the Yearbook of the Republic of China:

Since the lifting of martial law in 1987, Taiwan has moved rapidly toward full democracy. Elections for important posts in the government are held regularly, political parties have matured, and people actively participate in elections. The people of Taiwan now have greater control over affairs of state than ever before. The 2004 presidential election and the Peace Referendum represent the latest steps in more than a decade of Taiwan's democratic development.

In fact, more posts are filled by election in Taiwan than in many other democratic countries in the world, and an election is usually held every year. Average turnout rates in Taiwan's elections are around 70 percent of eligible voters; lower in comparison to some European countries, but much higher than in the United States.

Voting eligibility is defined broadly: the minimum voting age is 20, and there are no gender, property, or educational requirements. Voter registration is automatic. The government notifies citizens of all impending elections through the distribution of a bulletin or gazette that identifies and describes all candidates and their platforms for every district.

Normally, voting is scheduled on a Saturday. A large number of election workers, typically teachers, civil servants, and other dedicated local citizens, administer paper ballots at convenient polling stations. The workers count the votes accurately and quickly, reporting the results just a few hours after the polls close. By any standard, election administration in Taiwan is honest and highly efficient.

Electoral Systems

Taiwan's electoral process varies with the type of office. For such executive posts as president and vice president (forming a single ticket), special municipality mayors, county magistrates, provincial municipality mayors, rural and urban township magistrates, and county municipality mayors, each voter casts one vote in a single-member district, and the candidate who receives a plurality of the vote is elected.

Elections for the Legislative Yuan, special municipal councils, county or city councils, and township councils, use the single non-transferable vote (SNTV) method. Normally, several representatives are elected from a single electoral district, which is based essentially on existing administrative boundaries. Each voter casts only one vote, and several leading candidates are elected.

Founded in 1980, the Central Election Commission (CEC) under the Executive Yuan is responsible for holding and supervising national and local elections, screening candidate qualifications, recalling elected officials, and drafting or amending laws concerning elections. The CEC is led by a chairman and consists of 11 to 19 commissioners who, after nomination by the premier and then approval by the president, serve a term of three years. To guarantee the impartiality of the CEC, the Public Officials Election and Recall Act rules that commissioners from any single political party shall not constitute more than two-fifths of the whole commission.

Since 1991, a certain number of seats have been reserved for a national constituency and the overseas Chinese communities in the National Assembly and Legislative Yuan elections. These seats are allocated by proportional representation (PR). Prior to an election, each party submits two lists of candidates, one for the national constituency and the other for overseas Chinese communities. However, Taiwan voters do not vote directly for candidates on the party lists. Instead, they vote in their respective SNTV districts, and the votes obtained by all candidates are totaled according to party affiliation. The seats for the national constituency and overseas Chinese communities are then distributed proportionally among the parties that get at least 5 percent of total valid votes nationwide. Twenty-two percent of the seats in the 2001 Legislative Yuan election were filled this way.

In accordance with the latest amendment to the Constitution passed by the National Assembly on April 24, 2000, the future National Assembly will consist of 300 members and be elected by PR. However, it will only convene to ratify a proposal by the Legislative Yuan for amending the Constitution, altering the national territory, or impeaching the president or vice president.

As of March 2004, a total of 102 political parties had registered with the Ministry of the Interior. However, most are insignificant in electoral politics. The five significant parties are the Democratic Progressive Party, Kuomintang, New Party, People First Party, and Taiwan Solidarity Union. All won seats in the 2001 Legislative Yuan election.

Since 1991, the National Assembly has amended the ROC Constitution six times, changing, to a certain degree, the electoral mechanism in Taiwan. First, the terms of office for the ROC president and for National Assemblymen were shortened from six years to four (the term for Legislative Yuan members remains three years), and proportional representation was introduced to the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly elections. As a result of the latest constitutional amendment, the National Assembly has become an ad hoc body. Second, the offices of president and vice president are now elected by direct popular vote of all eligible citizens in the free area of the ROC, rather than indirectly by the National Assembly as in the past. To be elected, a presidential and vice presidential ticket needs only a plurality, not a majority, of the vote. Third, the method of selecting members of the Control Yuan has changed. Previously, Control Yuan members were elected by provincial assemblies and special municipal councils. They are now nominated and appointed by the president with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. This reform has transformed the Control Yuan from a parliamentary body to a semi-judicial institution. Fourth, the constitutional amendment passed in mid-1997 streamlined the provincial government. As a consequence, the provincial governor and the Taiwan Provincial Assemblymen are no longer directly elected.

The current electoral system for the legislative elections has been criticized for minimizing the role of parties and policies in the elections and for increasing corruption and factional politics. Since his inauguration in May 2000, President Chen Shui-bian has repeatedly called for cooperation between the governing and opposition parties to restructure the legislature, chiefly revamping the method of electing members to the Legislative Yuan and cutting the number of legislative seats in half. On August 23, 2004, the Legislative Yuan passed landmark constitutional amendment proposals to cut the number of legislative seats from 225 to 113, extend terms to four years from three, adopt a "single-district, two-vote" system, ensure women half of the seats for legislators from the nationwide constituency, give people referendum rights, and abolish the National Assembly. The revised versions will be made public for six months and be submitted to the new National Assembly for approval.

Elections

Taiwan has a long history of elections. Even during the period of martial law, elections for county magistrates, municipality mayors, provincial assemblymen, as well as county and city councilmen, were held quite regularly. With the exception of 1978, when the United States announced that it would sever diplomatic ties with the ROC, supplementary elections for members of the Legislative Yuan and the National Assembly were held regularly since 1969.

In 1986, under the leadership of President Chiang Ching-kuo, political reform was accelerated. After Chiang passed away, his successor, President Lee Teng-hui, continued liberalization and democratization programs. As a result of these reforms, all senior members of the First National Assembly, Control Yuan, and Legislative Yuan, who had been elected to office in the late 1940s either in China or in Taiwan, were retired. Beginning with the National Assembly election of 1991 and the Legislative Yuan election of 1992, the general public in Taiwan has elected all members of these national legislative bodies.

The following sections outline major elections in Taiwan since 1996, including an account of the ROC's most recent presidential election on March 20, 2004.

First Direct Presidential Election

Democratic reforms in Taiwan have made significant progress during the last decade. Ever since the first steps were taken to liberalize and expand the political process, each election has carried Taiwan politics closer to the goal of full democracy. On March 23, 1996, Taiwan held its first direct presidential election.

Recent amendments to the ROC Constitution provide the legal foundation for the direct popular election of the president and vice president. These amendments also specify that the winning candidate needs only a plurality of the vote. In addition to the changes made to the Constitution, a number of supporting laws have been passed to ensure that presidential elections are carried out efficiently and fairly.

In July 1995, the Legislative Yuan passed the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, which states that presidential and vice presidential candidates may be nominated by any political party gaining at least 5 percent of the vote in the most recent provincial-level or higher election, or by collecting the signatures of no less than 1.5 percent of eligible voters in the most recent parliamentary election. The act also requires that the Central Election Commission provide no less than 30 minutes of national television time for each candidate. Furthermore, when two or more candidates agree to participate, the committee will provide funding for nationally televised presidential debates.

Four teams of candidates campaigned to become the first directly elected president and vice president. The KMT nominated incumbent ROC President Lee Teng-hui, who picked Premier Lien Chan as his running mate. The DPP, after a fierce primary process, nominated veteran political dissident and professor, Peng Ming-min, as its presidential candidate. Peng then chose prominent legislator Frank Hsieh as his running mate.

Other candidates entered the race via petition. Lin Yang-kang and his running mate Hau Pei-tsun were both former vice chairmen of the KMT, but decided to run as independents under the endorsement of the New Party. The fourth team was Chen Li-an and Wang Ching-feng, a member of the Control Yuan and the only woman on the ballot. Chen was also a member of the KMT and the president of the Control Yuan, but gave up both of these positions when he announced his candidacy.

On March 23, slightly over 76 percent of eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots and re-elected Lee Teng-hui, giving him an impressive 54.0 percent of the vote. The DPP's Peng Ming-min trailed with 21.1 percent. Lin and Chen obtained 14.9 percent and 10.0 percent of the vote, respectively.

2000 Presidential Election

On March 18, 2000, 82.7 percent of all eligible voters went to the polls to elect the new president of the Republic of China. The heated competition among the top three teams was quite dramatic. DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian and his running mate Lu Hsiu-lien won the election, ending the Kuomintang's 50-year hold on the presidency in Taiwan. Chen Shui-bian, at the age of 49, became the youngest president of the Republic of China under the 1947 Constitution, and Vice President Lu the highest-ranking woman in the ROC's political history. Chen and Lu received 39.30 percent of the vote, followed by the independent James Soong, formerly the KMT provincial governor, and his running mate Chang Chau-hsiung, with 36.84 percent.

Kuomintang candidate Lien Chan and his running mate Vincent Siew finished in third place with 23.10 percent of the vote. Independents Hsu Hsin-liang and Chu Hui-liang won 0.63 percent, while the New Party's Li Ao and running mate Fung Hu-hsiang received 0.13 percent.

2004 Presidential Election

On March 20, 2004, 80.28 percent of voters went to cast their ballots for the third time to elect their national leaders. DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian and his running mate Lu Hsiu-lien sought reelection, facing the same challengers as four years earlier, Lien Chan of the KMT and James Soong of the PFP. This time, however, Lien and Soong ran on a joint ticket. After a heated election race, Chen was re-elected by a narrow margin of 29,518 votes. The DPP incumbents won 50.11 percent of the vote, compared with 49.89 percent cast for the Lien-Soong ticket.

This 2004 presidential election is significant in many ways. First, it was the first such election following the unprecedented change of governing party in 2000. Second, the first national referendum under the Referendum Act was concurrently held. Third, the two televised debates held in February between presidential candidates were the first in ROC history. In the past, presidential candidates only took part in televised presentations of their campaign platform. Fourth, the largest scale of participation was seen in campaign activities. In past years, it was unusual for more than a hundred thousand people to participate in a single campaign rally. This year, however, the Hand-in-Hand Across Taiwan Rally organized by the DPP on February 28 and the nationwide rally organized by the opposition parties on March 13 both made history in terms of the number of participants and geographic scale. Fifth, following an election annulment suit brought by the KMT-PFP alliance, the first nationwide ballot recount began on May 10, with more than 2,000 judges and court clerks, and more than 1,500 lawyers assigned to the task.

Recalls and Referendums

According to the Constitution, ROC citizens have the rights of election, recall, initiative, and referendum. Over the past several decades, however, various historical factors have kept people from exercising the right of initiative and referendum granted by the Constitution. Therefore, the passage of the Referendum Act in November 2003 gives an indication of consensus among political parties to realize popular sovereignty and direct civil rights through referendum.

One recent recall attempt was held in September 2003 in Linnei Township of Yunlin County in central Taiwan. Linnei residents expressed disapproval of their township magistrate's decision to build an incinerator within the town through a public vote. However, the turnout rate in the incident was not high; only 36.9 percent of those eligible actually voted. Since the Public Officials Election and Recall Act requires that at least 50 percent of eligible voters turn out to vote in order to recall elected officials or representatives, the attempt failed.

In November 2003, the Legislative Yuan passed a highly contested referendum act, providing a legal basis for the nation's citizens to vote on issues of national or local importance. According to the Referendum Act, the executive branch is prohibited from calling a referendum, that being the job of the Legislature or a citizens' petition drive. However, the act stipulates that the president can call a referendum, known as defensive referendum, if a foreign threat endangers national sovereignty.

The act calls for a referendum supervisory committee to be formed, which is charged with examining and approving referendum proposals as well as establishing rules for carrying out the referendum. A referendum must take place within six months of an announcement by the Central Election Commission and can be held on the same days as national elections.

Issues that can be put to a nationwide referendum include laws already passed by the Legislature, new legislative proposals, major national policies and constitutional amendments. Issues involving budgets, taxation, investment, wages and personnel matters are barred from the referendum agenda.

On March 20, 2004, Taiwan's first ever national referendum, known as Peace Referendum, was held along with the presidential election. Eligible citizens were asked on the first question whether Taiwan should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen the nation's defensive capabilities. A "yes" vote was given by 6,511,216 voters with 581,413 others answering "no." The second question inquired whether Taiwan should seek talks with China on the establishment of a "peace and stability" framework for cross-strait interaction. Some 6,319,663 voters were for the idea and 545,911 voters were against it. Both questions received responses from less than the required 50 percent of voters and were therefore rendered void.

Regardless of the result of the referendum, the promotion of the referendum has already achieved the goal of deepening Taiwan's democracy. The trend in popular opinion reflected by the referendum vote will carry great significance for the formulation and execution of future government policy. At the same time, because Taiwan lacks experience in similar national referendums, the March 20 referendum can serve as reference-whether in terms of the drafting of referendum topics, method of debate, or design of ballot casting, counting and other voting procedures-for future referendums on all manners of public policy issues.