The Role of Democracy in 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election

by

by : 
Yi-Jie T.

Summary

Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China, has been involved in cross-straits relations issues with mainland China, with each government laying formal claim to the island. Despite these ongoing issues, Taiwan was able to sustain its democratic idealism in the past thirty years through the presidential voting system. In the recent 2020 election, many democratic issues surfaced and in turn affected the election. This research will seek to study the role of democracy and the media in this election. In other words, how a voter’s sense of democracy shifted and led to the 2020 election result. Through this project, I wish to raise awareness on how valuable and fragile a democracy actually is and how lucky the Taiwanese are to get the opportunity to vote for their own leaders.

Personal Statement

Since watching the non-stop reporting on the Hong Kong protest last summer, I have started to reconsider the value of democracy. Since I lived in Taiwan for many years, I have decided to research how our modern democracy and media played a role in the 2020 Taiwanese presidential election and how political issues affect voter’s behavior. Through AAR, I had my first experience in following and caring about the events that built up to the election result.