Local elections were held for the first time in Taiwan by the Japanese colonial government on 22 November 1935, electing half of the city and township councillors. [1] The other half were appointed by the prefectural governors.
Only men aged 25 and above and who had paid a tax of five yen or more a year were allowed to vote, which was only 28,000 out of the 4 million population. [2] The turnout rate was 95%. [3]
Before 1935, all of the city councilors were appointed by the Japanese colonial government. Since 1921, many Taiwanese political groups, including the Taiwanese People's Party led by Chiang Wei-shui and the Taiwanese Alliance for Home Rule led by Lin Hsien-tang, asked for a Taiwanese council. The Japanese government did not accept, but held city council elections instead as a compromise.
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. It is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The territories controlled by the ROC consist of 168 islands with a combined area of 36,193 square kilometers. The main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, has an area of 35,808 square kilometers, with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its highly urbanised population is concentrated. The capital, Taipei, forms along with New Taipei City and Keelung, the largest metropolitan area in Taiwan. Other major cities include Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries in the world.
The Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan is governed in a framework of a representative democratic republic under a Five-Power system envisioned by Sun Yat-sen, whereby under the constitutional amendments, the President is head of state and the Premier is head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in primarily with the parliament and limited by government. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. In addition, the Civil service power is in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants and the supervision auditory power inspects, reviews, and audits the policies and operations of the government. The party system is dominated by the Kuomintang, which favors closer links to mainland China, and the Democratic Progressive Party, which favors Taiwanese nationalism.
Chen Shui-bian is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which ended the Kuomintang's (KMT) 55 years of continuous rule in Taiwan. He is colloquially referred to as A-Bian (阿扁).
Lee Teng-hui was a Taiwanese statesman and agriculturist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected and the first to be directly elected. During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law and the full democratization of the ROC, advocated the Taiwanese localization movement, and led an ambitious foreign policy to gain allies around the world. Nicknamed "Mr. Democracy", Lee was credited as the president who completed Taiwan's transition to the democratic era.
The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel voting system.
The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the Constituent National Assembly session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, along with its Additional Articles, remains effective in ROC-controlled territories.
The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's "one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong's hybrid representative democracy, though popular representation in the legislature has diminished significantly in recent years, along with its political diversity.
There are eleven types of elections in Taiwan which, since 2012, have been unified into general and local elections, each held every four years, typically in January and November respectively. There may also be by-elections. Electoral systems include first-past-the-post, proportional representation, single non-transferable voting, and a parallel mixture of the above.
The Japanese political process has three types of elections.
The debate over democracy in China has been a major ideological battleground in Chinese politics since the 19th century. China is not a Western-style liberal democracy. The Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state that China is democratic nonetheless. Many foreign and some domestic observers categorize China as an authoritarian one-party state, with some saying it adheres to neoauthoritarianism. Some characterize it as a dictatorship.
Elections in the Philippines are of several types. The president, vice-president, and the senators are elected for a six-year term, while the members of the House of Representatives, governors, vice-governors, members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, mayors, vice-mayors, members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod/members of the Sangguniang Bayan, barangay officials, and the members of the Sangguniang Kabataan are elected to serve for a three-year term.
Singapore was a British colony for 144 years, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945 during the Pacific War.
The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The short-lived Republic of Formosa resistance movement was suppressed by Japanese troops and quickly defeated in the Capitulation of Tainan, ending organized resistance to Japanese occupation and inaugurating five decades of Japanese rule over Taiwan. The entity, historically known in English as Formosa, had an administrative capital located in Taihoku (Taipei) led by the Governor-General of Taiwan.
The 1st Legislative Yuan election was held in China between 21 and 23 January 1948. This election, and the preceding 1947 National Assembly election are the first elections of under the newly ratified 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China. Under this constitution, the Legislative Yuan is a standing legislature when the National Assembly is not in session. At the time most of Chinese territory was under the control of the government of the Republic of China, using a direct voting system elected 759 Legislative Representatives. Using the Republic's then 461 million population to calculate, on average 600,000 people elected one representative in the Legislative Yuan. The election along with the one held for the National Assembly also made China the largest democracy at the time.
Democratic development in Hong Kong has been a major issue since its transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The one country, two systems principle allows Hong Kong to enjoy high autonomy in all areas besides foreign relations and defence, which are responsibilities of the central government. Hong Kong's Basic Law, also adopted after the 1997 handover, allowed residents to vote for local district councillors and directly elect about half of the region's legislators at the time. Many Hongkongers became concerned, however, after the first Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, appeared to have mishandled this issue, while human rights and universal suffrage have also become focal points for the pro-democracy camp.
The Republic of China government recognized the formation of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea on April 13, 1919, as one of the participants of the Cairo Conference, which resulted in the Cairo Declaration. One of the main purposes of the Cairo Declaration was to create an independent Korea, free from Japanese colonial rule. Bilateral diplomatic relations between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Republic of China began in 1948, just after the foundation of the First Republic, hence making China, the first country to recognize the Republic of Korea as the sole legitimate government of Korea. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Republic of Korea maintained relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan), which the island of Taiwan was also formerly under Japanese rule.
The 1947 Chinese National Assembly election was held between 21 and 23 November 1947 in China. This is the first election of under the newly ratified 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China. Under this constitution, the National Assembly is an authoritative legislature body that holds the power as constitutional convention and presidential electoral college. A total of 2,961 delegates were elected from across the country.
The Republic of China (ROC), between 1912 and 1949, was a sovereign state recognised as the official designation of China when it was based on Mainland China, prior to the relocation of its central government to Taiwan as a result of the Chinese Civil War. At a population of 541 million in 1949, it was the world's most populous country. Covering 11.4 million square kilometres, it consisted of 35 provinces, 1 special administrative region, 2 regions, 12 special municipalities, 14 leagues, and 4 special banners. The People's Republic of China (PRC), which rules mainland China today, considers ROC as a country that ceased to exist since 1949; thus, the history of ROC before 1949 is often referred to as Republican Era of China. The ROC, now based in Taiwan, today considers itself a continuation of the country, thus referring to the period of its mainland governance as the Mainland Period of the Republic of China in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese local elections of 2014, commonly known as the nine-in-one elections, were held on Saturday, 29 November 2014, to elect the Municipal Mayors, Municipal Councilors, Chiefs of indigenous districts in municipalities, Councilors of indigenous districts in municipalities, County Magistrates, County (City) Councilors, Township Chiefs, Township Councilors and chiefs of village (borough) in 6 municipalities and 16 counties (cities). Elected officials would serve a four-year term. Polling stations were open from 08:00 to 16:00 on the election day.
The Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament took place in the first half of the twentieth century. It demanded that the Imperial Diet of Japan establish a self-governing parliament, or representative assembly, in Taiwan. Started by New People Society of Taiwan, this movement marked a transition in Taiwanese colonial politics, from armed resistance to modern political movement. It was the longest political movement during the Japanese occupation period of Taiwan..
| Direct presidential elections | |
|---|---|
| Legislative Yuan elections | |
| Local elections | |
| Referendums | |
| National Assembly elections | |
 | This ROC (Taiwanese) politics–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This Asian election-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
