The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a legislative majority in yesterday’s election, securing 68 seats in the 113-seat legislature. With its ally the New Power Party (NPP) winning five legislative seats, the DPP is expected to enjoy unrestricted power in the parliament.
Before the elections, the DPP had called on voters to cast their legislative ballots for the party’s candidates to help it secure a majority in the legislature without the NPP’s assistance.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which held 64 legislative seats before the election, hoped to secure at least 38 seats to prevent the majority party or alliance to motion for a recall of the president, which can be done with a two-thirds majority in the legislature. The DPP got what it wanted, but not the KMT.
Graphic: Louise Ting, Taipei Times
DPP president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “coattail effect” has helped the party sweep legislative votes.
However, the real force that carried the opposition parties to victory is probably the “awakened youth,” who have been calling for the removal of the KMT from government since 2014’s Sunflower movement.
The NPP, which was established in the movement’s wake, fielded three political novices in the election — a leading activist in the Sunflower movement, a famous metal singer and a victim-turned symbol of nationwide demonstrations against abuse in the military — as its regional legislative candidates. All three got elected, defeating three veteran KMT lawmakers.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
However, while the NPP has won representation in the legislature as expected, the 5 percent threshold has proved to be a hurdle for other small parties, such as the Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance, the Republican Party and the Faith and Hope League, which are among parties that were established following the Sunflower movement.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union, which had three seats in the 2012 legislature, failed to cross the 5 percent threshold this time. The rise of the NPP was definitely a factor, but its decision to team up with Le Flanc Radical, a Taiwan-independence group consisting of young people, has been considered a move that came too late to garner young votes.
The People First Party’s (PFP) crossing the threshold might be seen as a coattail effect of its party chairman and presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜). It was said that Soong’s bid, which was his third, was a ploy to campaign for party votes. It remains to be seen how the PFP would retain its so-called “non-blue, non-green and middle way” in a pan-green parliament.
The New Party, which received tacit support from Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) of the KMT and other KMT members who were dissatisfied with the party’s at-large legislative candidate list, made gains, winning more than 4 percent of party votes, while having only won 1.49 percent of the votes in 2012.
With the KMT’s rout, the distribution of the political power within the KMT and the pan-blue camp as a whole would be followed closely.
An interesting point raised by commentators is how the forced apology of Korean pop music group member Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) affected young voters and the elections’ outcome. It has been said that many young people decided to vote after the incident, in defiance of pressure from China. The DPP’s victory, in terms of its gains in party votes compared with what was expected, is said to be an outcome of the incident.
The KMT had secured 64 seats in a 113-seat legislature in 2012, while the DPP had 40 seats, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the PFP each had 3, the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union had 2 and independents, 4.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS