Taiwan’s 1985 Elections

Abstract

On November 16, 1985, voters in Taiwan went to the polls to elect candidates to four categories of local office: 21 city mayors and county magistrates (5 and 16, respectively), 77 members of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly, 51 members of the Taipei City Council, and 42 members of the Kaohsiung City Council-a total of 191 posts.1 Elections to these positions have been held regularly-every four years-since 1951 or before. It was the tenth election for the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and the eleventh for the other offices. This series of local elections was also the second of its type since the watershed election of 1980 (to elect the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan, or the legislative branch of government) when party competition between the Nationalist party, or Kuomintang (KMT), and the nonparty, or Tang Wai (outside the party), candidates reflected marked political change, democratization, and what some perceived as an evolving two-party system in the Republic of China. It was also conducted with participants cognizant of the fact that violence had erupted during elections eight years before. Finally, it was held in the context of what some regarded as a crisis of confidence for the Kuomintang, due to a number of unfortunate events and scandals over the previous year or two that had hurt its image, and a factionalized opposition unable to overcome internal strife.2 This series of local elections is important to the political process in