On January 13, 2024, Taiwan voted for a president. Polls closed at 4 p.m. Poll workers then took out every paper ballot, held it up for the room to see, and read the name out loud. There are no voting machines and no absentee ballots. You vote in person where your household is registered, which is why thousands of Taiwanese Americans flew home to do it. By that evening, the island knew who had won. William Lai took 40 percent, the first time one party has won three presidential terms in a row since Taiwan began direct elections in 1996. The same day, his party lost its majority in the legislature.
Saadia Khan talks with Brian Hioe, a Taipei-based journalist and founding editor of New Bloom, a magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan.
In this episode:Why Taiwan counts by hand, in public, on purposeWhat it means that there is no mail-in or absentee voting, and who gets left outFamilies who take their parents on vacation during election week so the votes cancel outWhy the DPP is the progressive party and the KMT the conservative one, and why China is still the real dividing lineWhich democracy looks more fragile right now, Taiwan’s or America’s?
Follow Brian Hioe on X, Bluesky, and Threads: search Brian Hioe. New Bloom is at newbloommag.net.
You can connect with Saadia on IG @itssaadiak
Email:saadia@immigrantlypod.com
Host & Producer: Saadia Khan I Content Writer: Saadia Khan I Editorial Review: Shei Yu I Sound Designer & Editor: Lou Raskin I Immigrantly Theme Music: Simon Hutchinson | Other Music: Epidemic Sound I Cover art for the Series: Sarah DiMichele
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