Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/17/2020
By: Chen Yi-hsuan and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je/ CNA photo Sept. 17, 2020

Alan Lee (李柏毅), who is from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, asked Ko whether he was thinking about running for presidency in 2024 during a Taipei City Council hearing.

In response to the question, Ko said, "I am not thinking (about running for presidency in 2024), I am directly preparing."

Ko then said he thought he would have had a better chance of winning the presidency this year as opposed to 2024, but chose not to run because he had to "take the Taipei Music Center, Taipei Performing Arts Center and Taipei Dome into account."    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 07/24/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan Matthew Mazzetta

CNA file photo

The plan, which was originally announced on June 8 and was scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1, would have set a maximum price for out-of-pocket copayments for 352 items in eight medical device categories, ranging from pacemakers to intraocular lenses, offered under Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA).

For devices in those categories, the NHIA generally only covers the costs for a basic version, meaning patients currently have to cover the additional amount if they require a product that is more advanced or has additional features.

On June 13, however, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) suspended the plan after a meeting with representatives from the medical sector, who said the policy would prevent high-quality medical devices from entering the market, and ignored the differences in medical quality, techniques and technology used at different hospitals and clinics.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's two major political parties are competing to get their presidential nominee elected and to hold a majority

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/02
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections are just 40 days away and a

President Tsai Ing-wen (center, front row)

The two major political parties in Taiwan are the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT), who are working to get their presidential nominee elected and form a majority in the country’s legislature. The Apple Online poll asked if the president should or should not be a member of the majority party, the news outlet reported on Monday (Dec. 2).

Nearly half of those polled, 44 percent, said the president should not be a member of the majority party so “the executive and legislative branches can counterbalance each other.” Meanwhile, 39.9 percent were of the opposite opinion, saying “they should be the same party to facilitate policy making and administration."

Those who didn’t give a definitive answer accounted for 16.1 percent of the survey's respondents. What stood out from the survey is that among those who support President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) reelection, 35.8 percent thought the president should come from a party other than the majority party, the news outlet reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Japan Times
Date: Nov 30, 2019
By: Ko Shu-Ling

FILE PHOTO: Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen waves during Taiwan’s National Day in Taipei, Taiwan, October 10, 2019. REUTERS/Eason Lam/File Photo

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party suffered a huge defeat in the 2018 local elections, and few gave her much chance against the main opposition Nationalist Party candidate Han Kuo-yu, who was riding a wave of popularity that began the year before when he won the Kaohsiung mayoral election as part of the DPP rout.

Today, however, polls show Tsai leading Han by over 10 points, with most in agreement that, barring a major scandal or economic downturn, Taiwan’s fourth elected, and first female, president is headed for a second term.

Tsai’s rebound is widely attributed to two main causes, both involving China.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/30
By: Yu Hsiang and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Nov. 30 (CNA) Kuomintang (KMT) presidential nominee Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday

Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜)

Several times on his ongoing nationwide "listening tour," audience members have criticized the passage of marriage equality legislation earlier this year, but the candidate has largely resisted explaining his own views on the issue.

At a campaign event in Taipei on Saturday, a young supporter noted the issue's importance to the younger generation, and asked if Han would support efforts by some KMT lawmakers to repeal the legislation.

Han responded that in life — from our family relationships at home, to our friendships at school, to our romantic relationships as adults — attachment and love are inescapable.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/16
By: Yu Hsiang and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) The Kuomintang (KMT) Central Committee approved the party's legislator-at-

Chang Hsien-yao

The vote caps a rocky week for the KMT, which first released the list on Wednesday but was criticized for the lack of younger candidates and including candidates with controversial views on China.

Two days later, a revised list was announced, which the party finalized Saturday, approximately two months ahead of Taiwan's Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections.

Legislators-at-large comprise 34 of the 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan, and are selected using a separate ballot on which voters choose their preferred political party, rather than individual candidates tied to electoral districts. Parties receiving at least 5 percent of votes on the at-large ballot are allocated seats in proportion to their vote count.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's 2020 election isn't just about the presidents — it's about the the local elections too.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/10/31
By: By Lev Nachman, UC Irvine

If Taiwan’s election were tomorrow, Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would likely win. Recent polls show she is ahead of Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Han Kuo-yu by over 12 percent. But it is far too early to assume the race is over — there is still over two months before the election, a lifetime in Taiwanese politics.

Although the majority of international press coverage has focused on Tsai and Han, there is another part of this election that is just as important: the fight for Taiwan’s legislature. This fight for Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (LY) is just as contentious as the presidential race, if not more so. Even if the DPP wins the presidency, it will be stalled for four years if it loses the LY to the KMT.

Taiwan uses a mixed system of first-past-the-post presidential and district candidate elections and proportional representation (PR) party votes. Citizens vote for their president, district representative and the party they wish to support. Since the presidential and district candidate elections are first-past-the-post, there are usually only two candidates running against each other.

The PR vote allows citizens to express their support for a party regardless of who is running in their local district or who is the president. If a party receives the 5-percent threshold, it qualifies for PR seats in parliament. The LY has 113 seats: 73 district election seats, 6 seats reserved for indigenous Taiwanese, and 34 seats reserved for PR.    [FULL  STORY]