The other day, walking home from the coffee shop, I stumbled upon a political rally at the corner of Da'an park. Three large dragons were surrounded by blow up figures of the two candidates and many rally attendees waving flags. The crowd cheered enthusiastically while considerately leaving a clear path for those walking by to get through. They were supporters of the white party and of candidate Ko. The party is controversial, having only started a few years ago, with some saying Ko doesn't stand for much (has few positions) but rather garners support from discontent (mostly younger) voters. I got to attend a panel of Fulbright delegates visiting to observe the election, and they seemed to write off the white party, saying Ko is just capitalizing on discontent people who feel entitled and slighted, but Hsi-sheng disagrees, saying it is important to listen to the voices of the people. He says young people are upset that the current Green Party hasn't been able to create more change while in power, and many young people are strained by low wages and the growing cost of living.
I've been quite interested in the election (after our own in the US have been such a mess), and I've been asking many folks for their thoughts. Most seem invested and willing to talk. Jenny, our island tour guide, for example, hadn't made up her mind on candidates and spent our tour watching candidate speeches to get informed and make a decision. Dr. Chen, a colleague at NTPU, said she was getting worried about the election. I asked her what would happen if her party won or if it lost. She said the reaction publicly wouldn't look all that different. People care a lot but usually do not show great celebration or great frustration in public and protesting the outcome was extremely unlikely. Hsi-sheng shared that engagement is high because of the island's history of not always having an open democracy and a value for the freedom to vote as well as the fact that a small island with fewer layers of government leaves people feeling like they can have more influence.
The two major parties (Green and Blue) seem to differ primarily on how they see Taiwan's relationship with China. It is complex, but the gist seems to be that the Blue party (KMT) used to be quite powerful and eventually wants one China and stresses the economic benefits of cooperating more closely with China. They were the party that first left China when the Communists took over, but early in their rule, they were quite authoritarian and responsible for the White Terror period of Martial Law with few civil rights and stifling of protestors. The Green Party, on the other hand, argues for Taiwan independence and maintaining the status quo relationship with China while strengthening relationships with the US.
There seems to be trends in generational divides with much older people voting blue (pro one China); middle aged people voting green (status quo and Taiwan independence) as many of these people lived through the White Terror period of Martial law and witnessed the sunflower movement; and some young voters looking for alternatives in the white party.
In the end, more than 70% of eligible voters came out to vote, and the Green Party was victorious.
A law professor, Dr. Lin, who ran for a local legislative position, was the speaker at our Fulbright conference. She shared that the Green Party won against great odds. The Green Party had already been in power for 2 terms (8 years) so a turnover in power was likely; in addition, even though Taiwan handled Covid very well, the public had still raised criticisms of the Green Party government for health and economic impacts; leading up to the election, the Chinese had been interfering with misinformation in favor of the blue KMT party; and, lastly, the "generation justice" (young people) was gaining momentum and critical of both major parties, drawing votes away from the parties and making it a close race.
As Dr. Chen predicted, there seemed to be a quiet acceptance of the results of the election the next day - if only the US could have such high levels of peaceful political engagement.
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