Thankfully, with all of Europe seemingly voting all at once, 2020 is looking to be fairly quiet on the international polling arena, but there are a few exceptions. The first one will be on Saturday, January 11, when Taiwan goes to the polls in their general election while the PRC, ostensibly in charge, hems and haws about how awful these rebels are who claim to be the real China and such. Even so, unification is less of an issue this time around since even the KMT aren't fans of working with Xi Jinping. This election, for both the Executive and Legislative Yuans, will be more focused on domestic issues such as the economy, though regional issues such as North Korea and the Spratly Islands disputes will invariably come up as they have through the year.
The major parties had their primaries in June, and there are only two major candidates, so let's see how this vote will go. The Presidential vote is a simple FPTP affair, while the Legislative Yuan has 73 FPTP constituency seats, 34 closed-list PR seats nationwide, and 6 from two special aboriginal constituencies using SNTV. Now to meet the candidates.
President Tsai Ing-wen and William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party(DPP)
Tsai has had an eventful first term to say the least. Initially, her tougher stance on the PRC was a popular one, but her popularity waned throughout her first term thanks to her support of ending nuclear power and legalising same-sex marriage, both proposals that were soundly defeated in a 2018 national referendum that accompanied municipal votes, alongside her reform of labour laws that saw seven national holidays stricken from the calendar, increased the amount of required work hours, and saw overtime pay significantly reduced, and a pension reform that raised the retirement age to 60(from 55), made significant decreases in interest payments among civil servants(including teachers and armed forces veterans), and even suspended pensions for retirees who found private sector work(a provision that was later ruled unconstitutional).
At those same municipal votes, the centre-left DPP lost a lot of their county and city seats, leading to Tsai resigning from the party leadership and her Premier, William Lai, announcing a primary challenge against her. It was the first major primary challenge for a sitting president in Taiwanese history, and it was one that Tsai did manage to win with 36% of the vote to Lai's 25%. Even so, Tsai's VP, Chen Chien-jen, has decided not to run alongside her, and no running mate has yet been chosen.
Tsai's main aim, and the one that's brought her back from the brink and leading in the polls, is to maintain an independent Taiwan, and she's also been openly supportive of the Hong Kong protests. I'll have more of her platform as the campaign progresses(no one seems to have policy profiles yet for either of them).
Han Kuo-yu and Simon Chang of the Kuomintang(KMT)
The KMT gained most of the seats in the municipal vote last year, and their primary in July was more eventful than even the DPP's. Kaohsiung Mayor and former legislator Han Kuo-yu was chosen with 45% of the vote in a crowded field alongside Foxconn founder and former CEO Terry Gou and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu among others. Just a couple of days before this post(November 10), Han chose former Premier and former Google Asia executive Simon Chang to be his running mate. As mayor of Kaoshiung, Han's main issues have been economic improvement and improved relations with the mainland. In 2018, he made agreements with four mainland cities(including Hong Kong) to sell NT$5 billion(US$167 million) worth of agricultural equipment. He also has a strong backing among working-class voters despite the KMT's centre-right stance. Even so, he's polling 12 points behind Tsai at the moment. Like before, the policy profile's will come as they are made available.
And of course, there are other smaller parties in the Legisative Yuan, but Taiwan is effectively a two-party state. So, who do you support, NSG?
For me, I'm not a fan of either candidate at the moment, though I'll go for Tsai somewhat reluctantly. Tsai is tough on the mainland without being too jingoistic, while Han's accommodating stances aren't necessarily good in the long-term as other major nations are going to be tougher on China in the coming years. On domestic issues, I understand why many were opposed to Tsai's pension reforms, but 60 does seem like a reasonable age for people who live as long as the Taiwanese often get to(they have one of the highest life expectancies in the world), though her work week reform can now mean people can be required to work 12 days non-stop.
