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Home Issues Backissues Volume 31, No.1 The Partisan Factor in Electoral Choice: A Case Analysis of the 1991 National Assembly Election

The Partisan Factor in Electoral Choice: A Case Analysis of the 1991 National Assembly Election

Yun-han Chu
1996 / 05
Volume 3, No.1

pp.17-48
Paper

Abstract

The influence of partisan factor in electoral choice under the SNTV system has not been well understood and systematically studies in the past. Conventional wisdom suggests that an SNTV system tends to induce candidate-centered campaign and to suppress the importance of partisan consideration. The paper argues that partisan factor may be brought into voters' decision-making in many different ways. In some cases, it serves as a screening factor, in other cases, it is the dominant factor as voters are willing to follow their party's instruction under a vote-eqalizing scheme. This paper identifies four different modes of electoral choice according to the impact of partisan factor on voting behavior. The analytical framework is a preliminary trial based on the islandwide survey data of the 1991 election for the National Assembly.

Keywords

Voting behavior

Partisan vote

Taiwan

National assembly

SNTV

Partisanship

Party identification