Party Primaries in Taiwan: Reappraisal

Abstract

No democracy without elections. No elections without candidates. And, usually, no candidates except those nominated by political parties. Parties select their candidates by different methods, sometimes differently in the same country, and more often differently from country to country. Taiwan's parties also have used various methods to choose their candidates. In recent years, both the ruling party and the major opposition party have used primary elections to pick some but not all candidates. They have avoided or deferred rigid implementation of particular candidate selection processes and have kept flexible their use of primary elections. This trend, especially as it summarizes experience in the ruling party, continues despite our projection that primaries soon would be institutionalized and become part of the text rather than a footnote to democratization in Taiwan.' Both the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reassessed their experience with primaries and amended candidate selection procedures for the 1994 year-end elections, for governor and the Provincial Assembly of Taiwan Province and for mayors and city councils in Taipei and Kaohsiung. KMT selected nominees in secret ballots cast by approximately 3,000 leaders and cadres on Sunday, 14 August, between 8 A.M. and 3 P.M. at offices in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Later, party officials designated another set of candidates for seventy-nine seats in the Taiwan Provincial Assembly, fifty-two seats in the Taipei City Council, and forty-four in the Kaohsiung City Council. In these consultations among KMT party officials, the candidate selection method was frequently referred to as a primary by party officials or local media. Of course, this method was not what political scientists mean by a primary, but was rather