Tag Archives: election

China elections: Independent candidates fight for the ballot

By John Sudworth, BBC News, Beijing, 17 November 2016

China’s constitution allows independent candidates to run in local elections but it is a futile exercise for those who dare to get their names on the ballot. Continue reading

Fears Grow For Chinese Election Hopeful, Missing, Believed Detained

an-elderly-woman-casts-her-vote-in-a-local-election-in-chinaWould-be independent candidates in forthcoming elections to district-level legislative bodies around China have expressed concern over the safety of constitutional scholar and former People’s Congress deputy Yao Lifa, who has been incommunicado since last week. Continue reading

Independent People’s Congress Election Hopeful Jailed in China’s Jiangxi

Members of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee vote during their closing meeting in Beijing

Members of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee vote during their closing meeting in Beijing, July 1, 2015. Xinhua

Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi have detained an activist who tried to run as an independent candidate in elections to his local People’s Congress. Continue reading

Tienchi Martin-Liao: “I am very, very sorry… I am proud to be Chinese.”

Observers of the recent elections in Taiwan

Observers of the recent elections in Taiwan. Image provided by the author.

Reflections on Taiwan’s recent groundbreaking election.

It was an amazing experience to be an observer to the Taiwan election. Together with a small group of writers and politicians from Europe and Japan, we had the chance to witness the peaceful and passionate election in Taiwan in mid-January. The landslide victory of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was already prognosticated by several poll institutes weeks ago. Tsai Ing-wen became the first female president, meeting all expectations, yet the results in the parliament election were still quite astonishing. The ruling party Kuomintang (KMT) has lost almost 50 percent from its original 64 seats down to 35 seats, giving the DPP to get a comfortable 68 of 113 majority. More stunning is the newly founded (as of January 25, 2015) so called third forces. Some of the young leaders of the New Power Party are coming from the Sunflower Movement. They have won 5 seats and became the third political force in parliament. Continue reading