Taiwanese Attitudes toward the Political Newcomers in 2016

Taiwanese Attitudes toward the Political Newcomers in 2016

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (LY) is commonly seen as an institution comprised of career politicians. In fact, candidates without prior experience in elected seats of the island’s political structures are no strangers to the LY. Moreover, in the 2016 parliamentary elections, the political novices enjoyed unprecedented support and achieved relative success. The New Power Party (NPP), which only formed in early 2015 and popular mainly due to the several debutants it fielded, including Freddy Lim, Hung Tzu-yung and Huang Kuo-chang, emerged as the LY’s third-largest party. Although it garnered only five of the 113 seats (4.4%), it was a great win for the fledgling party, ranking it third behind the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which have reigned over the island’s political scene for the past several decades. This article examines the phenomenon of Taiwanese novices. It looks at them from the voters’ perspective. It surveys the demographic profiles and political preferences of Taiwanese who support the newcomers’ engagement in the political process, and compares them with citizens who express negative attitudes toward the newcomers.

Тайваньское отношение к политическим новичкам в 2016 году

Законодательный Юань Тайваня (LY) обычно рассматривается как институт, состоящий из профессиональных политиков. На самом деле, ему не чужды кандидаты без предшествующего опыта работы на выборных местах в политических структурах острова. Более того, на парламентских выборах 2016 года политические новички получили беспрецедентную поддержку и достигли относительных успехов. Партия «Новая сила» (NPP), образованная лишь в начале 2015 года и популярная в основном благодаря нескольким дебютантам на политической сцене, включая Фредди Лима, Хун Цзы-юнга и Хуан Го-чан, стала третьей по величине партией ЛЮ. Хотя она получила только пять из 113 мест (4,4%), это была отличная победа для молодой партии, которая заняла третье место после Гоминьдана (KMT) и Демократической прогрессивной партии (DPP), которые доминировали на политической сцене острова в течение последних нескольких десятилетий. В данной статье рассматривается феномен тайваньских новичков, которая рассматривает его с точки зрения избирателей. В ней анализируются демографические характеристики и политические предпочтения тайваньцев, поддерживающих участие новичков в политическом процессе, а также проводится их сравнение с гражданами, которые негативно относятся к дебютантам.

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