As the results of Taiwan’s parliamentary and presidential elections have been picked through this week, one of the key themes has been the positioning of young people. Based on polling data before the election, many believe they’re the driving force behind the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) winning 22.07% of the national party list vote and eight seats in the Legislative Yuan, and its presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) winning 26.46% of the presidential vote. Despite Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) winning the presidency, this appears to mean large numbers of young people have turned away from him and his party in favor of the new, “third party.”
Hoping to understand why this might be happening, we spoke to three people in their mid-twenties about their reaction to the results and found two things. First, again, opinion up close is slippery, complex and contradictory. Second, if there is a through line between what these people thought, it’s that they may not want close relations with China but they have some fatigue with being told it’s the only issue they should care about by the two main parties. And for a couple of different reasons they think it would be helpful to have more than two parties that can realistically win power.
Speaking in person to Luo Yu-Ching, (羅俞晴), a 24-year-old National Open University (國立空中大學) student currently working part time (who we’ve interviewed previously), the complexity of people’s thinking was immediately apparent.
Luo told us she voted for Ko in the presidential election because the big parties should not be able to just “take it in turns,” because Ko said he would build social housing, and because she felt the big parties “fight each other” too much and look after their own interests. She said she’d voted for the Taiwan Statebuilding Party in the national party list because it was a vote for the working class, for better wages, and to “show that people still care about the smaller parties.” And she said she voted for the local Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate in New Taipei’s Banqiao District because they had helped out her mother with an issue.
In that context, how did she feel about the results? “It’s predictable from the polls already,” she said. “But I was quite surprised … the KMT was higher than Ko Wen-je. After the coalition failed, I guess quite a lot of people tried to stop the DPP winning so voted for the KMT. But also I was disappointed. It’s still hopeful for the next round of the presidential election in four years. I feel Ko still has a definite potential to win.”
One thing that was notable from our wider conversation was that Luo spoke least about the DPP, who she called “complacent.” Although she said the KMT was “too deep blue” in wanting closer relations with China, when presented with former KMT president Ma Ying-jeou’s recent comments about unification with China, she said they were “worrying” but weren’t enough to make her want to vote for DPP — the party most associated with more distant relations with China — now or in future. Instead, she most often focused on the benefits of democratic pluralism, hoping that the TPP could play a “key role, balancing both of the two big parties in the parliament.”
Some of that line of thinking was shared by Alston, a 25-year-old IT technician, who preferred to use only her English name when speaking about who she voted for. Speaking via message, she said she had voted for KMT’s Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) in the presidential election, the TPP in the national party list and the local KMT candidate. However, she said those KMT votes were because neither Ko nor Hou could realistically win, so she voted “just [so] my dad knows I’m a good kid.” Her emphasis when discussing the election on the whole was that both the KMT and DPP are “corrupted” in the sense of primarily looking after their own interests and even directly making money for themselves through domestic policy choices. She particularly focused on accusations that the DPP is benefiting from investment in the green industry.
Responding to the results, Alston was negative about the DPP winning the presidency. “Somehow I really dislike Lai. I think [Lai’s running mate] Hsiao [Bi-khim] is more suitable to be the president,” she said. The only way she might change her negative opinion of the DPP or the KMT, she joked, was if they “[t]ry to be normal people or just be professional comedians.” However, none of this focus on party politics or domestic issues meant she was not concerned about relations with China. Asked about the same comments from Ma Ying-jeou cited above, she said “Unification is not an option and if [it happens] we are going to be like Hong Kong.”
Finally, we spoke to Eric Wu (吳奕昀), a 23-year-old who we previously interviewed about his experiences of military service in Taiwan. Wu has since gone to the U.K. to study for an MA in marketing.
Wu didn’t vote at this election because he was in the U.K. But speaking via message he told us he would have voted for Ko Wen-je, on the same basis as Luo: “I agree that we need another party to run the country. Not always [the] DPP and KMT.” Again, a broad commitment to the idea that democratic pluralism is healthy and the idea that a rotation of two parties has caused Taiwan’s politics to stagnate.
Speaking about the DPP winning the presidency, Wu was pretty negative, saying, “Well to be honest, I just don’t like how [the] DPP arrange[s] the human resources. Too many bad guys. So I feel only pessimistic, but I’m also surprised that most of the people outside Taiwan love [the] DPP.” Wu was especially surprised by what he sees as the U.S.’s fondness for the DPP.
What does he mean by “bad guys” in the DPP? “To me, I just don’t like someone who’s above us,” he said. Whereas “Ko Wen-je gives me a feeling that he’s not above but [be]side us.” Wu said Ko makes him “feel safe” and “optimistic.”
Again, though, this negativity toward the DPP and positivity toward Ko, who has sent mixed messages about Taiwan’s relationship with China and sought to prioritize discussion of domestic issues, does not mean Wu is not concerned about relations with China.
“I think China and Taiwan have a totally different definition about [the] One China Policy,” he said. “I don’t mind [if] we do business or anything that helps us make money (legally). But [it] seems like China only want[s] to do more aggressive movements to interfere with Taiwan’s economic development, so I don’t quite like that.”
His position is nuanced. He doesn’t necessarily trust China, but isn’t against trade with them. “We have been a good business partner for a long time,” he adds, before explaining: “many people go there and seek … jobs, [although] this is also a problem that our government should deal with, that we keep losing talented people.” Added to this, he’s had enough of the DPP using “democracy” as their election slogan, and wants them to “do something” for Generation Z, “otherwise they won’t get any vote after the old people are gone.”
What might the “something” look like? For Eric the answer is simple: Inflation versus wages. “I think I haven’t felt any different on the salary part. They did raise the part-time job money. But my dinner is still expensive.”
Multiply this mix of answers by millions and you might be somewhere close to understanding how Taiwan’s young people see this election. It definitely won’t fit in a snappy headline.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng/AFP
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