2022 Local Elections: The Age of the Young Politicians

It’s election season in Taiwan, and it’s quite hard to miss. Inescapable billboards of candidates with their thumbs up, politicians shaking hands in farmer’s markets, and widely distributed tissue packets: such are the constants of a Taiwanese election.

While the local elections this year may feature a lot of the same campaign tactics, and even many of the same faces running for reelection, this election cycle also sees the rise of many young, first-time candidates.

While the young politicians may not possess the same practical experience as the incumbents they face, they are often charged with the righteous indignation– yet also youthful optimism– to change the face of Taiwanese politics.

The 2022 local elections are not only a stage for this generation’s young politicians to prove their worth, but an invitation for youth across the country to become politically active.

Taiwan’s nine-in-one local elections will be held on November 26. ​Voters across the country will be electing representatives at various levels of local governments, from neighborhood chiefs, city and county councilors, to heads of the largest municipal governments.

On the same day, voters will decide on a referendum to lower the voting age from 20 to 18. The referendum on the proposed constitutional amendment will require support to pass a 50 percent threshold, or 9.65 million votes.

For reference, President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected in 2020 with 8.17 million votes. Without bipartisan support, the referendum may fail at the ballot.

The four parties represented in the Legislative Yuan have all rallied in support of the amendment. The proposal cleared the Legislature with unanimous support, an uncommon feat, especially for a constitutional amendment.

Before the amendment is ratified, 50 percent of Taiwan’s eligible voters will have to turn out to vote in favor of the amendment. Voter turnout was 74.9 percent in the 2020 general elections; turnout was under 70 percent across Taiwan in the 2018 local elections.

At the ballot, voters are not only presented with the choice to include a younger generation in the country’s political discussion but also directly support younger candidates running for office.

The Taiwan Weekender interviewed city council candidates from the six special municipalities– the major cities in Taiwan. The candidates come from various political parties, including the major Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT), as well as third parties on the rise: Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), New Power Party (NPP), and Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP).

The profiles of the candidates not only catalog their budding political careers but trends seen in this election cycle. The following are some recurring themes observed from the interviews.

Youth-Friendly Initiatives

All the candidates interviewed were chosen to represent their parties after some form of a nominating process. For the DPP and KMT, primaries were held via telephone polling for most districts. The smaller third parties also launched various search efforts to recruit like-minded candidates.

Across the parties, there seemed to be a consensus to include young candidates in the 2022 roster. This was especially evident for the century-old KMT, which announced that first-time candidates under the age of 35 would receive a 100 percent boost in their poll numbers.

The DPP continued its youth-friendly policy from the 2018 elections, adding 20 percent for first-time candidates under the age of 35.

While smaller third parties did not propose similar initiatives to increase youth inclusion, it’s important to note that the compositions of these relatively newer parties are already much younger than the major parties.

“Metabolism”

More than half of the candidates described the 2022 elections as a metabolic process, in which the political system allows new blood to replace older candidates, in turn, generating new energy.

This reference is not new. This process began in 2018 when young politicians first gained momentum in local elections following the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement. The NPP, which was founded and staffed by many of its participants found success during the 2018 local elections.

In 2020, DPP Legislator Lai Pin-yu, who was a student activist during the Sunflower Movement, was elected to the Legislative Yuan at the age of 29, becoming the youngest legislator in Taiwan’s history.

The 2022 elections should be seen as a continuation of this political metabolic process. With young candidates introduced into the system, new solutions and issues concerning young families across the country are brought to the table.

The Hen Effect

In the races to capture the special municipalities, parties have nominated their best mayoral candidates. Parties with mayoral candidates also hope to obtain a significant number of seats in the city council to govern more easily.

As a result, mayoral and city council candidates have been seen campaigning together during this election cycle, with superstar mayoral candidates leading the flock as its “hen.”

A related concept that has been brought up is the “spillover effect,” which describes seemingly unrelated variables impacting one another. In this cycle, the mayoral hen’s popularity has been seen to influence that of the city council candidates.

However, the opposite has also been true: when mayoral candidates faced controversies, the city councilors would also be adversely affected.

Third Parties

Apart from the DPP and KMT, voters can vote for candidates from a range of smaller third parties. These candidates may not have the resources of the major parties but have campaigned twice as hard to be seen and heard.

The NPP was founded in 2015, emerging from the Sunflower Movement. It found success in the 2016 and 2018 elections, positioning itself as a legitimate alternative to the old politics of the major parties. However, a number of party heavyweights have since left the party, citing ideological differences.

The TPP is on the rise. Founded by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je in 2019, the party quickly obtained five seats in the Legislative Yuan. It has nominated two mayoral candidates and one magistrate candidate. In Taipei, former deputy mayor Huang Shan-shan is running as an independent, but she is largely seen as affiliated with the party.

The TSP is a hardline pro-independence party. Former Legislator Chen Po-wei, who has now left the TSP, was the party’s single representative in the Legislative Yuan. The party has strong roots in Kaohsiung, where it contributed to the recall effort against former Mayor Han Kuo-yu.

Cross-Strait Issue

The 2020 national elections were largely seen as Taiwan’s stand against China, re-electing President Tsai Ing-wen and giving the DPP a simple majority in the Legislative Yuan. The urgency to vote for the ruling DPP was further driven by Beijing’s crackdowns on Hong Kong since 2019.

In 2022, cross-strait relations have further deteriorated. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. This was followed by unprecedented military drills deployed by the People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan.

Given the heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, candidates were surprised to find that the cross-strait issue was not a talking point that resonated with the electorate.

Some candidates suggested that voters are suffering from political fatigue after constantly hearing about an inevitable invasion for the past two years; others claimed that Chinese military drills have become normalized. A DPP candidate pointed out that voting against China would mean voting against the KMT, which they’ve already done repeatedly.

As a result, most candidates have focused their platforms on bread-and-butter issues to appeal to independent voters.