A seminar on Taiwan’s 2016 general election was held in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday. The seminar was organized by the University of Toronto’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
It focused on the significance and the impact of the elections last month, which the opposition DPP won by a landslide. Speakers included University of Toronto Professor Huang Yi-chuang, Taiwan affairs expert Shelley Rigger from North Carolina’s Davidson College, and Professor Alexander Huang of Tamkang University.
The three scholars agreed that Taiwan’s democracy has matured. Processor Alexander Huang said the election was significant in two senses. Taiwan elected its first-ever female president, and the opposition DPP became the first party other than the Kuomintang (KMT) to win a majority in the legislature.
Professor Huang Yi-chuang said the ruling KMT faced an unprecedented failure in the election. He said that the KMT will need reform in order to rise back to power again.