ASSESSING TAIWAN's SECOND TRANSITION OF POWER:
A turning point in Taiwan's political development?

Taiwan's Electoral Rule Change and its Implications on Party System

Emile C.J. Sheng
Professor, Soochow University

Abstract
Taiwan changed its legislative electoral system to a single-member district, dual ballot system, and reduced the number of legislative seats in the constitutional revision in 2005. This article attempts to discuss the possible influence of these changes to future Taiwanese politics from the following aspects – party system, political landscape, legislative system, party organization, proportionality between votes and seats, party strength, and the effectiveness in eliminating past problems of the original SNTV electoral system. The author thinks that the new electoral system would reduce representation of public opinion, produce long-term safe district incumbents, and enhance the current area dominance of the KMT in the north and DPP in the south, and propose to correct these potential problems from the nomination of legislators at-large and considering the possibility of implementing term limits. The author hopes this article would raise further deliberation from scholars to collectively propose institutional designs to correct or prevent these potentially negative effects from taking place.

Keywords: single-member district dual ballot system, mixed-member electoral system, seats reduction in half, electoral rule chance, political landscape, term limit

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