I have not forgotten about ancient Chinese thought in modern American life, but my distration with Taiwan politics continues for now (though I have some thoughts on how a Confucian might understand the re-design of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial – more on that later…)

    I have a post up at China Digital Times, some of which repeats some points I have already made here about the Taiwan legislative elections.  Here is a excerpt that has two points that I have not yet raised here:

     In discussions with local election observers, it has been suggested
that the new electoral system may have a moderating effect on
legislative politics. The expectation is that the single member
districts will demand that newly elected legislators work pragmatically
for the interests of their districts. In order to deliver the goods for
their people they will have to find ways of working with other
legislators, even those of the other party. Under the old system, which
had multiple-member districts and many more seats, more legislators
were not directly beholden to district-level interests (they could win
one of the multiple seats with a very small percentage of the
district’s votes) and could hold on to entrenched ideological
positions. That is the theory at least. If it is true the moderating
effect that Andrew J. Nathan and Yun-han Chu
have predicted may be more than simply an effect of changing voter
preferences; it may also be encouraged by the new electoral system.

      In any event, virtually everyone expects the KMT to come out of the
election in a stronger legislative position. Predictions for the number
of KMT seats run from 65-75. For the DPP, the "golden number" is 38: if
they win fewer than that, the KMT will hold a two-thirds majority and
be able to amend the constitution. On television last night, President
Chen Shui-bian, leader of the DPP, was asking for votes to avoid
precisely this outcome. I took this as a sign of weakness: if the DPP’s
goal is to secure something just above one third of the seats, their
internal polling must have them far from anything like a majority….

     Shelley Rigger, one of the very best analysts of Taiwan politics, has an excellent analysis of the potentially moderating effects of the new electoral system here.

     I also have some pictures of campaign rallies from Friday night.  The first four are from a KMT rally, the second three from a DPP rally.  Look below the fold for the rest: