Electoral and Party Politics in Democratization

Abstract

The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has undergone, mainly over the last ten years, a process of transition from a developmental authoritarian dictatorship to a representative democracy. This process, which found its completion in the direct popular election of the state president on 23 March 1996, was characterized by six phenomena:

• a gradual increase of political competition, which has resulted in the emergence of a competitive party system;

• the development of the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan into fully representative parliamentary bodies entirely elected by the population of the ROC;

• the removal of restrictions to freedom of the press and of information;

• the removal of restrictions to the evolution of independent civil-interest groups, in particular those of workers, farmers, and women;

• the gradual development of patterns of intra-party pluralization within the ruling party, the Kuomintang (KMT);

• the distinct reduction, though not abolition, of the KMT’s dominating role in the mass communication media.