As part of Talking Taiwan’s Election Tour, we spoke with Courtney Donovan Smith a week after Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections. Lai Ching-te of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president with 40.05% of the vote. Hou Yu-ih the Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential candidate got 33.49% of the vote and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) got 26.46%. It was the first time in Taiwan’s history that any political party has been elected for three consecutive four-year terms in office. The DPP won an unprecedented third presidential term but lost its majority in the legislature. We talked about how ballot counting in Taiwan is highly transparent and also about how the Taiwan People’s Party could have a crucial role in the legislature, and if the TPP will suffer the same fate as Taiwan’s other third parties
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
- Reflections on the 2024 election compared to past elections
- How the election of Lai Ching-te has earned the DPP an unprecedented third term in office
- How Terry Guo had expressed interest in running for president
- The opposition unity ticket deal that fell through
- Taiwan’s first direct presidential election in 1996
- How ballots are counted in Taiwan
- How voting is done in Taiwan
- Donovan’s thoughts on if the Taiwan People’s Party will survive as a third party
- Taiwan’s third political parties and what has happened to them
- The 2000 election in which Lien Chan was the KMT presidential candidate and James Soong ran as an independent presidential candidate
- The origin of the terms “Pan Green” and “Pan Blue
- The possibility that Hou You-yi could be recalled as mayor of New Taipei City
- Comparing the recall of Hou You-yi with the recall of Han Kuo-yu
- What the election results tell us about how people feel about the Democratic Progressive Party
- How Ko Wen-je has managed to attract many young voters
- How voting results may have differed if the presidential election were not a three-way race
- What could happen with the Legislative Yuan speaker and deputy speaker positions
Related Links:
Courtney Donovan Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-donovan-smith-7ab5023/
Courtney Donovan Smith on X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/donovan_smith
Taiwan president shot in election attack: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/mar/20/china.jonathanwatts
William Lai (Lai Ching-te): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_Ching-te
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Progressive_Party
Hou You-yi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou_Yu-ih
Kuomintang (KMT): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuomintang
Ko Wen-je: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Wen-je
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_People%27s_Party
Sunflower Movement: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunflower_Student_Movement
Terry Guo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gou
As Taiwan’s Election Looms, KMT-TPP Unity Talks Stumble: https://thediplomat.com/2023/11/as-taiwans-election-looms-kmt-tpp-unity-talks-stumble/
Taiwan’s 1996 direct presidential election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Taiwanese_presidential_election
Taiwan’s 2000 presidential election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Taiwanese_presidential_election
Chen Shui-bian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Shui-bian
Annette Lu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Lu
Lee Teng-hui: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui
China’s United Front: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_front_(China)
Chiang Jing-kuo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Ching-kuo
Qing dynasty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qing_dynasty
New Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Party_(Taiwan)
James Soong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Soong
People First Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_First_Party_(Taiwan)
Taiwan Solidarity Union: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_Solidarity_Union
Pan-Green Coalition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Green_Coalition
Pan-Blue Coalition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Blue_Coalition
New Power Party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Power_Party
Legislative Yuan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Yuan
Executive Yuan: https://english.ey.gov.tw/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Yuan
Han Kuo-yu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Kuo-yu
Johnny Chiang (江啟臣): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Chiang
Eric Chu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Chu
Taiwan Presidential Debate 2024: Political Analyst Courtney Donovan Smith’s Insights on the Upcoming Election (Episode 270): https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-presidential-debate-2024-political-analyst-courtney-donovan-smiths-insights-on-the-upcoming-election-ep-270/
Background of Taiwan Presidential Candidates 2024: Political Analyst Courtney Donovan Smith’s Rundown for Upcoming Election (Episode 271): https://talkingtaiwan.com/background-of-taiwan-presidential-candidates-2024-political-analyst-courtney-donovan-smiths-rundown-for-upcoming-election-ep-271/
Sean Su: Observations on Election Day 2024 from Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Episode 272): https://talkingtaiwan.com/sean-su-observations-on-election-day-2024-from-kaohsiung-taiwan-ep-272/
Sean Su: Observations on Election Day 2024 from Kaohsiung, Taiwan Ep 272
Hsin-Tai Wu: From Cardiovascular Surgeon to Joining the Taiwan State Building Party (Episode 264): https://talkingtaiwan.com/hsin-tai-wu-from-cardiovascular-surgeon-to-joining-the-taiwan-state-building-party-ep-264/
Hsin-Tai Wu: From Cardiovascular Surgeon to Joining the Taiwan State Building Party Ep 264
Reliving the Sunflower Movement from Ground Zero: Jiho Chang Tells the Inside Story (Episode 174): https://talkingtaiwan.com/reliving-the-sunflower-movement-from-ground-zero-jiho-chang-tells-the-inside-story-ep-174/
Reliving the Sunflower Movement from Ground Zero: Jiho Chang Tells the Inside Story Ep 174