The big election is this Saturday. The offices of President and Vice-President are up for grabs, as are legislative seats all over the island.
The current President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, cannot run again because she's already served two terms of office. I think she's been a great President, certainly the best Taiwan has ever had. While I've lived in Taiwan Lee Tung-hui, Chen Shui-bian, Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen have held the office, and in my humble, less politically informed opinion Tsai overshadows her predecessors.
This time around there are three candidates for the office of President, these being:
Lai Ching-te (a.k.a. "William Lai")
Party: Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Background: He's been Vice-President since 2020. He served in the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2010, he was the Mayor of Tainan City and he was a doctor before becoming a politician. He is/was hugely popular in Tainan, a DPP stronghold.
He's from Wanli, in New Taipei City. His father was a coal miner who died in the mines just after Lai was born.
Running Mate: Tsao Bi-khim, former representative to the United States.
Hou Yu-ih
Party: Kuomintang (or "Chinese Nationalist Party") (KMT)
Background: He's been the Mayor of New Taipei City since 2018. Prior to that he was Director-General of the National Police Agency, and prior to that he served an earlier term as Mayor of New Taipei City.
He began his career as a police officer in Taipei City. Hou is from Puzi in Jiayi County. His family owned a pork stall in a local market. Like Lai his family has been touched by tragedy; his son died in a tour bus fire in 1992.
Running Mate: Jaw Shaw-kong, member of the Legislative Yuan.
Ko Wen-je ("Ko P")
Party: Taiwan People's Party (TPP)
Background: Ko served as Mayor of Taipei City from 2014 to 2022. He is/was a doctor and Professor of Medicine prior to engaging in politics. On the one hand he practiced medicine at a much higher level than Lai ever did, on the other hand he's been accused of misconduct more than once.
Ko has a reputation for "shooting from the hip" which may be related to an undiagnosed case of Asperger syndrome. He grew up in Hsinchu.
Running Mate: Wu Hsin-ying (a.k.a. "Cynthia Wu"), member of the Legislative Yuan.
The 2024 Taiwanese Legislative Election
This is a rather complicated subject, but simply stated there are 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan. 73 of these seats represent entire districts, and a popular vote decides which candidate wins one of these seats. 34 of these seats are party-proportional, in that the party wins the district and the candidates are assigned seats relative to their position on a list. The remaining 6 seats represent aboriginal voting districts.
315 candidates are running for the 73 seats representing entire districts, while 178 nominees were included on lists for the 34 party-proportional seats.
Sixteen political parties are represented in this election. Aside from the DPP, KMT and TPP, there is the New Power Party (NPP), Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSD), People First Party (PFP) and many others. These lesser known parties aren't likely to win much, if anything, in the upcoming election.
There are, by the way, over a hundred registered political parties in Taiwan, though many of these haven't been active for a long time. What, if anything, is the Chinese Universal Love Public Interest Party up to today?
Parting Thoughts
Lai is still ahead in most polls with Hou in second place and Ko bringing up the rear. The Presidential race should be an easy win for Lai provided his supporters show up to vote.
The main criticism against Lai seems to be the main criticism against the DPP, that if they continue to hold power Taiwan's relationship with Mainland China will deteriorate further and Taiwan will have even less access to China's markets. There is also something about a property his family owns (or at least maintains) on land designated for another purpose in north Taiwan.
Hou has had some difficulty in the realm of public opinion due to property his family owns (and rents out) in and around New Taipei City. The recent school stabbing has also caused many to wonder aloud why he's on the road campaigning and not in New Taipei City, dealing with the situation there.
I watched about half of the Presidential debates. Hou seems to have trouble stringing sentences together in Mandarin, often injecting Taiwanese phrases into speeches to appear more "folksy." This strategy could backfire, however, as not all people in Taiwan have grown up speaking Taiwanese.
Ko Wen-je never has a shortage of opinions, and in this respect he's often his own worst enemy. I can't say that all of his ideas are bad, but he has a tendency to speak without thinking things through beforehand. Were he to somehow win the Presidency, his inability to provide measured responses to serious questions could be a real problem.
I won't have anything further to say about the Legislative Election until after it happens. I'm not familiar with those candidates or the issues at stake.
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