Election Year in Taiwan

Note: Romanization of Chinese characters are given in how they are spelled in Taiwan, which is close to the Wade-Giles system, unless there is already a common spelling.

Taiwan's next presidential election is on January 14, 2012. This date differs from the usual end-of-March presidential election because Ma Ying-jeou, the current president, changed it in hope that many Taiwanese businessmen in China who return to Taiwan for Lunar New Year's celebration (January , 2012) would also vote. This group of people leans toward The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT, GMD 中國國民黨) that Ma Ying-jeou belongs to.

Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文, the presidential candidate from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP )民主進步黨 and the first woman presidential candidate in Taiwan, had a rally with candidates for Legislature Yuan in Mujha Market 木柵市場 on November 13. It was my first political rally in Taiwan. Various staff and candidates gave speeches, criticizing current political affairs (unsurprisingly). Most attendees were people over 50-60 years of age. Some parents and grandparents brought children to the rally. One six- or seven-year-old boy who sat near me responded loudly to each shout-out (phrases like "gets elected" 當選 and "yes" 好). I wondered if he understood what he was responding to, and what his shout-outs meant. Did his family "train" him from an earlier age on. Some attendees eventually left because of the on-and-off rain and the long wait for Tsai Ing-wen, but as a whole most people stayed. The rally began at 7pm, and Tsai appeared at around 9:15pm. The crowd grew more impatient and tired with each waiting moment, but found new energy immediately with the appearance of Tsai. The crowd really loved her. People rushed over to the stage to take pictures of her. Tsai looked tired but spoke for about 30 minutes. The crowd wanted her to say more, but she promised that she would return to talk more with the residents. Mujha was the last stop of her campaign for the day.

Tsai's appearance in Mujha was significant because, as I learned that day, Mujha is in the "bluest" districts in Taiwan, the Wunshan District 文山區. It is "bluest" because Ma Ying-jeou, the current president, used to live in the district. Its neighboring district, Ta-an District 大安區, is the second bluest district. Both districts had over 70% votes for the Blue Camp in the 2010 mayoral election and election for vacant positions in Legislature Yuan. This high percentage of support occurred even with the 2010 election, which revealed signs that Ma Ying-jeou's administration was losing popular support as his party the KMT did not win as many positions as they expected.

The current election status looks like KMT is on the defensive, while DPP is on the offensive. Many issues, mainly tied to the economy and employee benefits, are keeping the ruling party KMT on its toes. KMT currently holds the presidency and controls over 70% of the Legislature Yuan body. The judicial branch is also overwhelmingly, if not nearly 100%, full of KMT sympathizers.

This year's election feels very different from previous ones I have seen in Taiwan. The biggest factor being it is the first presidential election that I will witness while in Taiwan, and not Legislative Yuan or local elections. Still, the difference holds: campaign billboards are less color-coded- less blue, and definitely a lot less green. The two major political camps in Taiwan are blue and green. The Blue Camp 藍營 is a coalition of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT or GMD, 中國國民黨), People First Party 親民黨, and New Party 新黨. The latter two parties were split from KMT. What unifies these three parties is their pro-China stance in holding onto the idea of the Republic of China, and a lingers on the idea of China the homeland. The Green Camp 綠營 is a coalition of Democratic Progressive Party 民主進步黨 and Taiwan Solidarity Union 台灣團結聯盟黨. These two parties are pro-Taiwan in advocating Taiwan's uniqueness and independence from China.