The 2000 Presidential Election and Its Implications for Taiwan`s Domestic Politics

Abstract

The 2000 presidential election was surely a milestone event in Taiwan`s political development. However given the fact that Taiwan`s constitutional form of government is essentially parliamentary, the change in leadership should not be that significant. Nonetheless, the political system functions quite differently in practice. The discrepancy between theory and practice foretells of tensions between the executive and legislative branches of government. In the foreseeable future, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will find gaining a majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan to be very difficult. However if the pan-Kuomintang (KMT) camp remains divided, the DPP may still be able to win the next presidency. If that happens again and again as it does right now, a certain degree of stalemate is almost inevitable in Taiwanese politics unless politicians fully abide by the constitutional rules. Moreover, Taiwan h democracy is plagued by ”black and gold politics.” In order to solve these problems, the island should consider electoral reform. Unfortunately, the major parties are wide apart on this issue, and the chances that electoral reform will succeed in the near future are very slim.