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Impact of Candidate Selection Systems on Election Results: Evidence from Taiwan before and after the Change in Electoral Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2013

Dafydd Fell
Dafydd Fell*
Affiliation:
SOAS, University of London. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

A central challenge for scholars of party politics is to explain parties' electoral success or failure. Campaign strategies, candidate personalities, electoral systems, parties' issue emphasis and policy positions all receive extensive coverage in the literature. One variable that has been neglected is the role of nomination systems in election results. This is surprising considering how politicians often blame candidate selection failures for disappointing electoral outcomes and then reform nomination mechanisms in the hope of improving future election prospects. In this study I examine the relationship between nomination systems and electoral results in Taiwan before and after the change in electoral systems. I show that candidate selection methods have played an important role in shaping Taiwan's party system under the old and new electoral systems.

Keywords

candidate selectionnominationTaiwanelectionspolitical parties
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 213 , March 2013 , pp. 152 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2012

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