Taiwan’s public vote-counting system is one of the most powerful and unique aspects of its democracy, a US academic said after observing the presidential and legislative elections on Saturday.
“It’s completely transparent, low-tech, open and inspires confidence,” Kharis Templeman, a researcher at Stanford University and program manager of the Taiwan Democracy and Security Project, said in a telephone interview. “I believe that the whole world can learn something from Taiwan’s elections.”
Taiwan’s vote-counting process, in which poll workers hold up each ballot and call out the name of the candidate selected, is open to the public.
“Everyone is allowed to watch, record, supervise and even call out any mistakes,” Templeman said, adding that those involved are “using their lives to protect democracy.”
Although Saturday’s elections were not his first time observing Taiwan’s vote-counting process, he said that it was still incredibly moving.
“It strikes me every time I’ve come here to observe the elections just how good the Taiwanese election [system] is,” Templeman said.
Another impressive part of the process, and one that contributes to the legitimacy of the results, is the high level of efficiency, Templeman said, adding that the final results are usually known four to five hours after the polls close.
Regarding the campaign, he said that misinformation, false news and rumors in the media had increased compared with previous elections.
“But Taiwan has demonstrated that democracy can survive misinformation,” Templeman said.
Going forward, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who won a second term, would now have more flexibility to develop her policies, as she no longer has to worry about re-election, he said.
As for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which suffered crushing defeats in the presidential and legislative elections, Templeman said that the party needs new leadership and the input of young people.
Tsai won re-election with a record 8.17 million votes, or 57.13 percent of the total.
It was the highest vote total ever recorded for any candidate in a presidential election in Taiwan, breaking the previous high of 7.66 million votes received by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT in the 2008 election.
Separately, analysts commenting on the electoral results said that the relationship between Taiwan and the US is expected to continue to strengthen.
Taiwan Think Tank executive committee member Lai Yi-chung (賴怡忠) said that Taiwan could be described as one of the US’ best partners in Asia, adding that Saturday’s elections were essential to defending freedom and democracy in the Indo-Pacific region.
Ever-improving relations between the two nations over the past four years were the result of the US openly supporting governments that uphold democracy and freedom, not because of any favoritism, he said.
“There is good mutual trust between the US and the Tsai administration, which strengthens US-Taiwan cooperation,” Lai said.
“We should be able to see further development between the US and Taiwan,” he said, forecasting that military and other exchanges and cooperation would continue to deepen over the next four years.
Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that Tsai’s policies and positions are quite stable and have not demonstrated any drastic changes, which is very important in the governance of regional security.
In Tsai’s second term, the number of visiting US military groups is expected to increase annually and would become the norm, he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost