Efforts to realize transitional justice and to address the KMT’s illicit party assets have encountered a significant obstacle in the form of a ruling by the Taipei High Administrative Court that the assets of the Chinese Women’s League must be unfrozen...
The firing of Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation head Wu Yin-ning by the organization’s board earlier this week can be read several ways. But it may be a sign of how things are to change in Ko Wen-je’s second mayoral term and the second half of Tsai Ing-Wen’s first presidential term...
There would seem to be no greater indicator of progressive civil society’s defeats in 2018 local elections more than its losses across the board in terms of the referendums it pushed for. However, the situation seems to set to get bleaker in the near future. Conservative groups have now realized that referendums may be one way for them to force their political agendas through...
Why did the DPP do so poorly in 2018 local elections? Many have proposed different theories on this in the past days and it is very likely that the DPP itself will descend into a civil war in the near future, regarding why it failed and what it can do to avoid being defeated in such a landslide again in the future...
Ko Wen-je barely clinched the Taipei mayorship yesterday night, winning by several thousand votes over KMT candidate Ting Shou-chung. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), Ko won with 580,820 votes, while Ting lost with 577,566 votes. This puts Ko just over 3,300 votes ahead of Ting, a narrow victory by any means. How should we interpret this narrow win?...
The results of referendum voting will no doubt come as a great shock to progressive Taiwanese civil society with, quite literally, all of the referendum proposals they championed being voted down. On the other hand, all of the referendums they opposed passed. However, not all of these achieved the necessary 25% of voter participation needed to be legally binding...
Election results in 2018 local elections in Taiwan have been a surprise, with the apparent defeat of the DPP across much of Taiwan and a resurgent KMT. Referendum proposals pushed for by progressive civil society were widely defeated, but the NPP won 16 seats across Taiwan. The Taipei mayoral race has still yet to be called but is neck and neck between Ko and Ting...
Referendum reform has historically been pushed for by progressive civil society groups in Taiwan, as a means to resolve longstanding issues blocked by the KMT and other conservative forces. Progressive civil society groups were finally victorious in amending the Referendum Act last year, lowering the benchmarks needed to hold a referendum in Taiwan. But what if the results of referendum voting tomorrow indicate that, ironically enough, conservatives have managed to hijack the referendum and to use it against progressive civil society?...
With mayorship of all of Taiwan’s six special municipalities up for the vote in 2018 local elections, the DPP looks like it may have a tough time holding onto its current political dominance in four out of the six municipalities. Some take the view that DPP losses in these municipalities will allow the KMT to rebuild momentum, which is why DPP losses could be worrying...