The Central Election Commission 中央選舉委員會 A National Electoral System with Uniqueness: the Legislative Election of Taiwan Dr. Po-ya Chang Chairperson of

The Central Election Commission中央選舉委員會

A National Electoral System with Uniqueness: the Legislative Election of Taiwan

Dr. Po-ya ChangChairperson of the Association of Asian Election

Authorities (AAEA)


• First Legislative Yuan （ or Parliament ） having severed the country from 1948 to 1992

• Elections for additional numbers of the First legislative Yuan began in 1969

• At that time, the legislators were representing respective constituencies, as well as indigenous, vocational and women groups but representatives for overseas citizen were by appointing.

THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE ELECTION


• Propositional Representation Electoral System has been added since 1991.

• The 2nd Legislative Yuan was formed in 1993 with 225 seats.

• Seats for Vocational and Women Groups were abolished

LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS FROM 1991 & SINGLE NON-TRANSFERABLE VOTING SYSTEM


• Drawbacks of the SNTV system• Reform to the Legislative Yuan & the

Electoral System– Seats were reduced by half (225 to 113)– Single-Member District Two-Ballot System

was introduced.

ELECTORAL REFORMS & THE LEGISLATIVE ELECTION IN 2008


UNIQUE FEATURES OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

• The total 113 Legislative seats, 73 are elected from single member districts, 34 seats by PR system; and 6 members by aborigines.

• a combination of Multimember District and Proportional Representative Electoral systems

• Parties gaining 5% or more party votes are entitled to share PR seats

1. multimember district works together with proportional representative electoral systems


2.High threshold for nominating candidates campaigning for the PR Seats

To complete in the PR seats, a political party or ad hoc campaigning group shall conform to one of the following provisions:

• The total votes attained in the recent Presidential election by the recommended candidates have achieved 2% or more of the total valid votes in the election; or the total party votes attained has totaled 2% or more in the recent legislative election.

• Endorsement of incumbent 5 MPs or more.• A group of 10 or more qualified candidates campaigning for

district and aboriginal seats recommended by a party • As for the constituency legislators, an elector meeting relevant

requirements may apply for being registered as the candidate.



Taiwan has a sound household registration system, and the list of electors shall be compiled by the government agency of household registration according to the household registration data. The voters are not required to register to vote before the election.

3. Automatic registration



4. Campaign deposit • When registering as a candidate, campaign

deposit shall be made to the Central Election Commission.

• Since 2008, the deposit for legislator candidacy has been set to NTD 200,000 (equivalent to US$ 6,900)



5. Seats reserved for women • Before constitutional amendment, the

percentage of seats won by female was 8.4%, however, after constitutional amendment; the figure went up to 15%

• In 2004 election, there were 21 % of total seats won by female candidates, and 30 % in 2008.



6.Guarantee the seats for aboriginal• the constitutional amendment offered a

more advantageous position for the aboriginal to participate in the legislative elections.

• In addition, parties would increasingly keen on adding an aboriginal person to the party list competing for PR seats.



7.The Emerging of two-party system

• Two-Party Politics Emerged • Political Party Discipline strengthened• Politicians tend to please the median

voters



Thank You !

Documents

The Central Election Commission 中央選舉委員會 A National Electoral System with Uniqueness: the Legislative Election of Taiwan Dr. Po-ya Chang Chairperson of