At the end of 2005, Taiwan will hold local elections that will draw attention from observers worldwide. Taiwan’s County Magistrates, Councilors and Provincial Municipality Mayors Elections will take place on December 3, 2005. This will be the first time in Taiwan’s electoral history that three elections are combined on the same day. This new system was recently introduced by Taiwan’s executive branch, the Executive Yuan, and supported by the Central Election Commission (CEC). In the past, frequent elections in Taiwan not only created high social cost and financial burden for its citizens, but also raised people’s political apathy to Taiwanese politics. 

The Democratic Progressive Party has pursued political reforms in Taiwan since its foundation in 1989. This December election will serve of great importance to the DPP because it will strengthen the DPP as ruling party. In many of these local districts, the DPP has held the support of voters for more than a decade.

Elections are the key to success for all political parties, and as the DPP assumed the chairmanship of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) last year, the DPP has organized a number of election observation missions to other member parties. In December 2004, the DPP invited member and observer political parties from CALD to observe the parliamentary election in Taiwan. Thus, it became a constructive mission for all the delegates, as well as for the DPP.

In order to share the DPP’s campaign experience with its Asian liberal family, the DPP is pleased to invite once again CALD member and observer parties to observe the coming local elections in Taiwan. The delegates will visit the DPP Headquarters, the Central Election Commission, and a local poll station in Taiwan during the day of the election. The delegates will also get a chance to observe rallies, visit local campaign headquarters of political candidates, and also visit districts outside of the city center, such as Changhua and/or Taichung districts.