Watch … and learn?

There will be plenty of people watching Taiwan’s elections this weekend:

More than 100 political observers from around 20 countries have been invited to Taiwan to observe the December 3 “three-in-one” elections, the Central Election Commission reported yesterday.

Of the political observers, about 20 have been invited by the Democratic Pacific Union established by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮). This group, including parliamentarians, political party leaders and academics, will be coming from Japan, South Korea, Canada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, New Zealand, Palau, Guam, the Solomon Islands, Peru and Chile, according to CEC officials.

Observers from Hong Kong and Macau are expected to form the largest group.

Taiwan actually has a very well-organised, open and efficient election process. But something tells me that it isn’t the logisitics of holding an election which those specially administered regions have a problem with …

10 thoughts on “Watch … and learn?

  1. Pingback: Simon World

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  3. STOP George

    Insane! How the undemocratic China-loving pan blues can get a landslide in this election is beyond me. After the December 2004 election, I was disappointed. Now I’m downright depressed. I have little hope for Taiwan if this is the direction things are moving. Undoubtably, useless Ma will be gloating over this victory. Why, people? Why?!!! Last time I heard, the Keelung mayor (KMT) was going to be re-elected, as well! There go my hopes for this city to become something more than the armpit of Taiwan. Unbelievable!!

  4. concerned citizen

    Actually, I’m rather proud by the CEC’s orderliness and fast tallying of votes this time around.

    I think people should view this election as yet another achievement of Taiwan’s maturing democracy. The average voter in Taiwan is actually quite pragmatic and gets smarter with each election. They punished the DPP for its corruption and cronyism and for going back on their promises for reforms. You could blame the opposition Pan Blues for obstruction, but it was the Kaohsiung MRT case and the DPP’s own mishandling of the situation that did them in. It was a vote of no confidence this time around, nothing more. If the Pan Blues gloat over this victory, it would be extremely lame because they offered nothing policy-wise other than just the mere notion of an alternative. I didn’t get the impression that Mayor Ma’s post election statements suggested that the KMT leadership was gloating over the win though. The politicians were all well-behaved.

  5. Wolf Reinhold

    Pot calling the kettle black: “When you point to another person and accuse that person of doing something that you are guilty of doing yourself.”
    EXAMPLE: Claiming that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has defeated itself, opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou on Saturday demanded that the government set up a political integrity commission to clean up the nation’s politics. — CNA

  6. STOP George

    The average voter in Taiwan is actually quite pragmatic and gets smarter with each election.
    I’m sorry. I don’t see anything smart or pragmatic (long-term) about voting for a pro-unification, anti-democratic party like the PFP or KMT. Taiwan needs progressive reform now. It’s going backwards, IMHO.

  7. Fang Yu Tang

    that’s the beauty of a democracy, its up to the people to decide their own future, for better or worse. Stop George, if you are a citizen of taiwan and you voted, than your vote was just as valid as any other vote although the majority did not go your way this time, which of course gives you every right to criticize. But, if you aren’t, than let taiwan citizens determine their own future – whether that means declaring independence and possibly going to war with PRC or seeking to cozy up to PRC which may or may not improve taiwan’s economic prospects. KMT anti-democractic? Maybe 20 years ago, but now? KMT’s current chairman was elected by its party members through a democractic process.

  8. STOP George

    Take a look at this nugget of information that comes from The China Post of all places:

    “The DPP could take some comfort in the fact that five KMT winners in the elections are members of the national Legislature.

    They will have to give up their lawmaker seats, and as a result the opposition camp will lose their thin majority in the Legislature.

    While the DPP in their heyday never once obtained a majority of seats in the Legislature, the next two years until the 2007 legislative elections may be the only time that the DPP comes closest to dominating the Legislature.

    The DPP will see less obstruction in pushing its policies, but it will need the support of its ally — the Taiwan Solidarity Union — and independents. The DPP still have two years to win back voters’ trust until the 2007 legislative elections, which are expected to be a prelude to the final showdown in the 2008 presidential poll.”

    Could Chen be able to fulfill some of his platform, ironically, due to this disaster of an election? I don’t know what the by-election protocol is in Taiwan, but if the pan-greens have a majority until 2007, I hope he doesn’t cave like he did after December 2004.

  9. concerned citizen

    STOP George: You’re jumping to conclusions. First of all, this election was purely a local affair which does not have any direct bearing on cross-straits relations in the short term. The Mainland Affairs Council made that point clear. I also don’t see the mainstream Taiwanese public jumping in with China anytime soon. They are just sick and tired of the corruption that has undermined a party that has abused the trust of the electorate. The DPP’s leadership is rotten at its core and there will be plenty of soul-searching in the next few months. However, I am confident that it will return to its roots and purge itself of the rotten elements.

  10. Fang Yu Tang

    China Post actually got the bit about the greens gaining a majority in LY wrong (ironic, isn’t it). if you read china times (中國時報) or various other sources, they directly contradict the China Post article mentioned above. blues will still have an absolute (but slim) majority.

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