Upcoming Elections
Japan Legislative (half of upper house) – July 2019
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
124 out of the 245 seats in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the bicameral National Diet, are up for election, for six-year terms. Shinzo Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito, a Buddhist religious party, currently hold a majority but not the two-thirds majority needed to revise the constitution (the coalition already has that majority in the lower house). There had been speculation that Abe would also call a snap election to the lower house to be held concurrently (otherwise, lower house elections are not due until 2021), but that Abe dismissed the idea. Nationwide local elections in April saw low turnout and little competition – more than 20 percent of seats were uncontested. Provincial gubernatorial elections are also happening throughout the year. Recent concerns over Japan’s pension systems looked set to threaten Abe’s grip on power, but his government won a no-confidence motion in the lower house and currently looks stable.
Linda Sieg, Reuters: “Japan will hold an election for the upper house on July 21, the government said on Wednesday, effectively launching campaigning for half the seats in the less powerful of parliament’s two chambers. Expectations had simmered for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call a snap election for the lower house, but last week he said he was not considering such a move.”
Stratfor: “Japan: Upper House Elections Confirmed; No Snap Elections for Lower House”
Reuters: “Shinzo Abe gets Japan upper house election boost as opposition leader Yukio Edano rules out merger to challenge LDP. The ruling coalition does not currently hold a two-thirds majority in the upper house”
Hong Kong District Councils – November 24, 2019 and Legislative Council – September 2020
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Special Administrative Region within China
Hong Kong’s politicians fall into two broad camps: pro-democracy and pro-Beijing (sometimes called pro-establishment). Within these camps, parties and independent candidates have diverse ideologies, ranging from free market to social democracy. The District Councils oversee local public works and community activities, and the Legislative Council (Legco) is Hong Kong’s legislature. Following the 2015 District Council elections, the pro-Beijing camp controls all 18 councils, but the pro-democracy and localist camps currently hold 124 out of 458 seats. In the Legco, the pro-Beijing camp holds 43 seats out of 70, while the pro-democracy camp holds 24. However, a series of massive protests – with as many as 2 million people in the streets – could boost the pro-democracy camp.
MK Leung, Financial Times: “Technology aids unity of Hong Kong movement: Animosity between citizens of different political views has been growing fast across the world. However, in the recent protests (June 24) Hong Kongers have demonstrated solidarity across traditionally divided camps.”
Keith Bradsher, Daniel Victor, and Mike Ives, New York Times: “Why Hong Kong’s Protesters Are Turning to G-20 Leaders for Help”
Radio Free Asia: “Extradition Protests Continue in Hong Kong Amid Calls For International Support”
India, Haryana State and Maharashtra State Assemblies – October 2019 and Jharkhand State Assembly – November 2019
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Federal Parliamentary Republic
India has 29 states and seven union territories. Indian states are big – Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, has 112 million people, Haryana 25 million, and Jharkhand 32 million. Coalitions headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently control all three state legislatures. The BJP won a massive victory in elections to the Lok Sabha, India’s national parliament, earlier this year, giving it a second term in power as the majority party able to govern without coalition partners, in an increasingly polarized political climate. The main opposition social democratic Congress Party – India’s oldest party – did well in a series of state elections late last year but is reeling from the whiplash of defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. The state elections are happening in the context of a renewed push from Modi to institute “one nation, one election” – a proposal to hold state elections at the same time as elections to the Lok Sabha.
Moneycontrol News: “Setback for BJP as ally Shiv Sena opposes ‘One nation, One election’ plan. Shiv Sena remains one of BJP’s key allies, at the Centre and the state. Maharashtra is expected to head for Assembly election in October”
NDTV: “CHANDIGARH: The Swaraj India will fight the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, projecting the outfit as a viable alternative to the ruling BJP, party leader Yogendra Yadav said today.”
Barkha Dutt, Washington Post: “I am an Indian liberal. Here’s what we are doing wrong.”
Sri Lanka Presidential – December 7, 2019 and Parliamentary – February 2020
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Sri Lanka is still feeling the aftershocks of a series of terrorist attacks over Easter 2019 and a 2018 political crisis in which President Maithripala Sirisena tried to dissolve parliament and remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from office and replace him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president from 2005 to 2015. Ultimately, Wickremesinghe was reinstated, but the crisis has deep roots and tensions remain high in Sri Lankan politics.
The two major parties are Sirisena’s center-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Wickremesinghe’s center-right United National Party. Rajapaksa left the SLPF in 2018 and now leads the populist Sri Lanka People’s Front/Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). In the last presidential elections, Rajapaksa surprisingly lost to Sirisena, who embarked on a reform program to reverse many of the autocratic powers Rajapaksa had built up. Sirisena is eligible to run for a second term and could run again. His potential challengers include Wickremesinghe and one of Rajapaksa’s siblings (Rajapaksa is not eligible to run for president again due to term limits adopted during Sirisena’s presidency). Rajapaksa’s SLPP did well in local elections last year. Sri Lanka’s democracy sits on the precipice, and the upcoming elections could well determine whether it strengthens or deteriorates.
Shihar Aneez, Reuters: “Sri Lankan presidential hopeful [Gotabaya] Rajapaksa faces new lawsuits in U.S. court”
Nicholas Burkett, Foreign Brief: “Two months on, Sri Lanka is still reeling from the coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday that killed 258 people. Communal tensions, political turbulence and an economic downturn currently challenge the island nation.”
Taiwan Presidential and Legislative – January 11, 2020
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Taiwan has a robust democracy. The two main parties are President Tsai Ing-Wen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT, founded by Sun Yat-Sen, favors closer ties to the mainland, which it ruled from 1925 to 1948. The DPP, established in 1986 during Taiwan’s transition to democracy, supports Taiwan’s independence. Relations with China are a dominant theme in Taiwan’s political debate. Tsai won the DPP presidential primary, and the KMT holds its own primary next month. Candidates include Terry Guo, Taiwan’s richest man, and Beijing’s choice, Han Kuo-yu, the populist mayor of Kaohsiung, a major port city in the south. The DPP currently controls the Legislative Yuan. Last year’s local elections swept the KMT back into many local offices that they had lost during the 2014 local elections – with some assistance from China. China is expected to attempt to influence the upcoming elections as well.
Paul Huang, Foreign Policy: “Chinese Cyber-Operatives Boosted Taiwan’s Insurgent Candidate. Han Kuo-yu came out of nowhere to win a critical election. But he had a little help from the mainland.”
Yimou Lee and James Pomfret, Hong Kong Free Press: “‘Our God is China’: Pro-Beijing groups step up offensive to win over Taiwan”
AFP: “Taiwan set for pro-mainland fake news deluge before its presidential election”
Genevieve Tan, Washington Post: “How Taiwan is using same-sex marriage to assert its national identity: Liberalism in marriage laws helps bolster a separate, progressive national identity”
Mongolia Parliamentary – June 2020
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Mongolia has been a democracy since 1990 but is currently embroiled in political turmoil, and its safeguards of democracy are beginning to unravel. Politics are gridlocked due to hostilities between President Khaltmaagiin Battulga of the center-right Democratic Party (DP) and the government, appointed by the left-wing Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), which holds 65 out of 76 seats in the State Great Khural, Mongolia’s unicameral parliament. Battulga narrowly won in Mongolia’s first-ever presidential runoff 2017, and his DP only seven seats in parliament. Corruption has become a perennial problem, and has sparked protests, and many Mongolians are generally disillusioned with politicians.
David Stanway, Reuters: “Democratic but deadlocked, Mongolia braces for ‘inevitable’ political change”
Past Elections
Philippines Legislative – May 13, 2019
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Mong Palatino, Global Voices: “What will it take to combat digital authoritarianism in Southeast Asia? The rise to power of someone like Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who gained global notoriety for launching a bloody campaign against illegal drugs, is linked to the manipulation of online information tools by populists who end up dominating elections.”
CBS News: “A ‘dictator’s playbook’ is threatening democracy. This woman is fighting back.”
JC Punongbayan, Rappler: “Why is Duterte still so popular? President Rodrigo Duterte’s enduring popularity is baffling. What are the factors that might explain it?”
Indonesia Presidential, Legislative, Provincial – April 17, 2019
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh and Linda Yulisman, The Straits Times: “Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday (June 27) to uphold the results of the April 17 presidential election that handed President Joko Widodo a second term at the helm of the world’s third largest democracy. The decision puts an end to months of political uncertainty, crushing yet another bid for high office by former army general Prabowo Subianto.”
Asia This Week – June 28, 2019
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Last Updated: July 6, 2019 by 21votes
June 28, 2019
Each day, 21votes gathers election and political news from a different region of the world. We explore Asia and the Pacific on Fridays. Click the map pins.
Japan Legislative (half of upper house) – July 2019
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
124 out of the 245 seats in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the bicameral National Diet, are up for election, for six-year terms. Shinzo Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito, a Buddhist religious party, currently hold a majority but not the two-thirds majority needed to revise the constitution (the coalition already has that majority in the lower house). There had been speculation that Abe would also call a snap election to the lower house to be held concurrently (otherwise, lower house elections are not due until 2021), but that Abe dismissed the idea. Nationwide local elections in April saw low turnout and little competition – more than 20 percent of seats were uncontested. Provincial gubernatorial elections are also happening throughout the year. Recent concerns over Japan’s pension systems looked set to threaten Abe’s grip on power, but his government won a no-confidence motion in the lower house and currently looks stable.
Linda Sieg, Reuters: “Japan will hold an election for the upper house on July 21, the government said on Wednesday, effectively launching campaigning for half the seats in the less powerful of parliament’s two chambers. Expectations had simmered for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call a snap election for the lower house, but last week he said he was not considering such a move.”
Stratfor: “Japan: Upper House Elections Confirmed; No Snap Elections for Lower House”
Reuters: “Shinzo Abe gets Japan upper house election boost as opposition leader Yukio Edano rules out merger to challenge LDP. The ruling coalition does not currently hold a two-thirds majority in the upper house”
Hong Kong District Councils – November 24, 2019 and Legislative Council – September 2020
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Special Administrative Region within China
Hong Kong’s politicians fall into two broad camps: pro-democracy and pro-Beijing (sometimes called pro-establishment). Within these camps, parties and independent candidates have diverse ideologies, ranging from free market to social democracy. The District Councils oversee local public works and community activities, and the Legislative Council (Legco) is Hong Kong’s legislature. Following the 2015 District Council elections, the pro-Beijing camp controls all 18 councils, but the pro-democracy and localist camps currently hold 124 out of 458 seats. In the Legco, the pro-Beijing camp holds 43 seats out of 70, while the pro-democracy camp holds 24. However, a series of massive protests – with as many as 2 million people in the streets – could boost the pro-democracy camp.
MK Leung, Financial Times: “Technology aids unity of Hong Kong movement: Animosity between citizens of different political views has been growing fast across the world. However, in the recent protests (June 24) Hong Kongers have demonstrated solidarity across traditionally divided camps.”
Keith Bradsher, Daniel Victor, and Mike Ives, New York Times: “Why Hong Kong’s Protesters Are Turning to G-20 Leaders for Help”
Radio Free Asia: “Extradition Protests Continue in Hong Kong Amid Calls For International Support”
India, Haryana State and Maharashtra State Assemblies - October 2019 and Jharkhand State Assembly - November 2019
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Federal Parliamentary Republic
India has 29 states and seven union territories. Indian states are big – Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, has 112 million people, Haryana 25 million, and Jharkhand 32 million. Coalitions headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently control all three state legislatures. The BJP won a massive victory in elections to the Lok Sabha, India’s national parliament, earlier this year, giving it a second term in power as the majority party able to govern without coalition partners, in an increasingly polarized political climate. The main opposition social democratic Congress Party – India’s oldest party – did well in a series of state elections late last year but is reeling from the whiplash of defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. The state elections are happening in the context of a renewed push from Modi to institute “one nation, one election” – a proposal to hold state elections at the same time as elections to the Lok Sabha.
Moneycontrol News: “Setback for BJP as ally Shiv Sena opposes ‘One nation, One election’ plan. Shiv Sena remains one of BJP’s key allies, at the Centre and the state. Maharashtra is expected to head for Assembly election in October”
NDTV: “CHANDIGARH: The Swaraj India will fight the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, projecting the outfit as a viable alternative to the ruling BJP, party leader Yogendra Yadav said today.”
Barkha Dutt, Washington Post: “I am an Indian liberal. Here’s what we are doing wrong.”
Sri Lanka Presidential – December 7, 2019 and Parliamentary - February 2020
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Sri Lanka is still feeling the aftershocks of a series of terrorist attacks over Easter 2019 and a 2018 political crisis in which President Maithripala Sirisena tried to dissolve parliament and remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from office and replace him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president from 2005 to 2015. Ultimately, Wickremesinghe was reinstated, but the crisis has deep roots and tensions remain high in Sri Lankan politics.
The two major parties are Sirisena’s center-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Wickremesinghe’s center-right United National Party. Rajapaksa left the SLPF in 2018 and now leads the populist Sri Lanka People’s Front/Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). In the last presidential elections, Rajapaksa surprisingly lost to Sirisena, who embarked on a reform program to reverse many of the autocratic powers Rajapaksa had built up. Sirisena is eligible to run for a second term and could run again. His potential challengers include Wickremesinghe and one of Rajapaksa’s siblings (Rajapaksa is not eligible to run for president again due to term limits adopted during Sirisena’s presidency). Rajapaksa’s SLPP did well in local elections last year. Sri Lanka’s democracy sits on the precipice, and the upcoming elections could well determine whether it strengthens or deteriorates.
Shihar Aneez, Reuters: “Sri Lankan presidential hopeful [Gotabaya] Rajapaksa faces new lawsuits in U.S. court”
Nicholas Burkett, Foreign Brief: “Two months on, Sri Lanka is still reeling from the coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday that killed 258 people. Communal tensions, political turbulence and an economic downturn currently challenge the island nation.”
Taiwan Presidential and Legislative – January 11, 2020
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Taiwan has a robust democracy. The two main parties are President Tsai Ing-Wen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT, founded by Sun Yat-Sen, favors closer ties to the mainland, which it ruled from 1925 to 1948. The DPP, established in 1986 during Taiwan’s transition to democracy, supports Taiwan’s independence. Relations with China are a dominant theme in Taiwan’s political debate. Tsai won the DPP presidential primary, and the KMT holds its own primary next month. Candidates include Terry Guo, Taiwan’s richest man, and Beijing’s choice, Han Kuo-yu, the populist mayor of Kaohsiung, a major port city in the south. The DPP currently controls the Legislative Yuan. Last year’s local elections swept the KMT back into many local offices that they had lost during the 2014 local elections – with some assistance from China. China is expected to attempt to influence the upcoming elections as well.
Paul Huang, Foreign Policy: “Chinese Cyber-Operatives Boosted Taiwan’s Insurgent Candidate. Han Kuo-yu came out of nowhere to win a critical election. But he had a little help from the mainland.”
Yimou Lee and James Pomfret, Hong Kong Free Press: “‘Our God is China’: Pro-Beijing groups step up offensive to win over Taiwan”
AFP: “Taiwan set for pro-mainland fake news deluge before its presidential election”
Genevieve Tan, Washington Post: “How Taiwan is using same-sex marriage to assert its national identity: Liberalism in marriage laws helps bolster a separate, progressive national identity”
Mongolia Parliamentary - June 2020
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Mongolia has been a democracy since 1990 but is currently embroiled in political turmoil, and its safeguards of democracy are beginning to unravel. Politics are gridlocked due to hostilities between President Khaltmaagiin Battulga of the center-right Democratic Party (DP) and the government, appointed by the left-wing Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), which holds 65 out of 76 seats in the State Great Khural, Mongolia’s unicameral parliament. Battulga narrowly won in Mongolia’s first-ever presidential runoff 2017, and his DP only seven seats in parliament. Corruption has become a perennial problem, and has sparked protests, and many Mongolians are generally disillusioned with politicians.
David Stanway, Reuters: “Democratic but deadlocked, Mongolia braces for ‘inevitable’ political change”
Philippines Legislative - May 13, 2019
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Mong Palatino, Global Voices: “What will it take to combat digital authoritarianism in Southeast Asia? The rise to power of someone like Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who gained global notoriety for launching a bloody campaign against illegal drugs, is linked to the manipulation of online information tools by populists who end up dominating elections.”
CBS News: “A ‘dictator’s playbook’ is threatening democracy. This woman is fighting back.”
JC Punongbayan, Rappler: “Why is Duterte still so popular? President Rodrigo Duterte’s enduring popularity is baffling. What are the factors that might explain it?”
Indonesia Presidential, Legislative, Provincial - April 17, 2019
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh and Linda Yulisman, The Straits Times: “Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday (June 27) to uphold the results of the April 17 presidential election that handed President Joko Widodo a second term at the helm of the world’s third largest democracy. The decision puts an end to months of political uncertainty, crushing yet another bid for high office by former army general Prabowo Subianto.”
Upcoming Elections
Japan Legislative (half of upper house) – July 2019
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy
124 out of the 245 seats in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the bicameral National Diet, are up for election, for six-year terms. Shinzo Abe’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito, a Buddhist religious party, currently hold a majority but not the two-thirds majority needed to revise the constitution (the coalition already has that majority in the lower house). There had been speculation that Abe would also call a snap election to the lower house to be held concurrently (otherwise, lower house elections are not due until 2021), but that Abe dismissed the idea. Nationwide local elections in April saw low turnout and little competition – more than 20 percent of seats were uncontested. Provincial gubernatorial elections are also happening throughout the year. Recent concerns over Japan’s pension systems looked set to threaten Abe’s grip on power, but his government won a no-confidence motion in the lower house and currently looks stable.
Linda Sieg, Reuters: “Japan will hold an election for the upper house on July 21, the government said on Wednesday, effectively launching campaigning for half the seats in the less powerful of parliament’s two chambers. Expectations had simmered for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call a snap election for the lower house, but last week he said he was not considering such a move.”
Stratfor: “Japan: Upper House Elections Confirmed; No Snap Elections for Lower House”
Reuters: “Shinzo Abe gets Japan upper house election boost as opposition leader Yukio Edano rules out merger to challenge LDP. The ruling coalition does not currently hold a two-thirds majority in the upper house”
Hong Kong District Councils – November 24, 2019 and Legislative Council – September 2020
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Special Administrative Region within China
Hong Kong’s politicians fall into two broad camps: pro-democracy and pro-Beijing (sometimes called pro-establishment). Within these camps, parties and independent candidates have diverse ideologies, ranging from free market to social democracy. The District Councils oversee local public works and community activities, and the Legislative Council (Legco) is Hong Kong’s legislature. Following the 2015 District Council elections, the pro-Beijing camp controls all 18 councils, but the pro-democracy and localist camps currently hold 124 out of 458 seats. In the Legco, the pro-Beijing camp holds 43 seats out of 70, while the pro-democracy camp holds 24. However, a series of massive protests – with as many as 2 million people in the streets – could boost the pro-democracy camp.
MK Leung, Financial Times: “Technology aids unity of Hong Kong movement: Animosity between citizens of different political views has been growing fast across the world. However, in the recent protests (June 24) Hong Kongers have demonstrated solidarity across traditionally divided camps.”
Keith Bradsher, Daniel Victor, and Mike Ives, New York Times: “Why Hong Kong’s Protesters Are Turning to G-20 Leaders for Help”
Radio Free Asia: “Extradition Protests Continue in Hong Kong Amid Calls For International Support”
India, Haryana State and Maharashtra State Assemblies – October 2019 and Jharkhand State Assembly – November 2019
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Federal Parliamentary Republic
India has 29 states and seven union territories. Indian states are big – Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, has 112 million people, Haryana 25 million, and Jharkhand 32 million. Coalitions headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently control all three state legislatures. The BJP won a massive victory in elections to the Lok Sabha, India’s national parliament, earlier this year, giving it a second term in power as the majority party able to govern without coalition partners, in an increasingly polarized political climate. The main opposition social democratic Congress Party – India’s oldest party – did well in a series of state elections late last year but is reeling from the whiplash of defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. The state elections are happening in the context of a renewed push from Modi to institute “one nation, one election” – a proposal to hold state elections at the same time as elections to the Lok Sabha.
Moneycontrol News: “Setback for BJP as ally Shiv Sena opposes ‘One nation, One election’ plan. Shiv Sena remains one of BJP’s key allies, at the Centre and the state. Maharashtra is expected to head for Assembly election in October”
NDTV: “CHANDIGARH: The Swaraj India will fight the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls, projecting the outfit as a viable alternative to the ruling BJP, party leader Yogendra Yadav said today.”
Barkha Dutt, Washington Post: “I am an Indian liberal. Here’s what we are doing wrong.”
Sri Lanka Presidential – December 7, 2019 and Parliamentary – February 2020
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Sri Lanka is still feeling the aftershocks of a series of terrorist attacks over Easter 2019 and a 2018 political crisis in which President Maithripala Sirisena tried to dissolve parliament and remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from office and replace him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president from 2005 to 2015. Ultimately, Wickremesinghe was reinstated, but the crisis has deep roots and tensions remain high in Sri Lankan politics.
The two major parties are Sirisena’s center-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Wickremesinghe’s center-right United National Party. Rajapaksa left the SLPF in 2018 and now leads the populist Sri Lanka People’s Front/Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). In the last presidential elections, Rajapaksa surprisingly lost to Sirisena, who embarked on a reform program to reverse many of the autocratic powers Rajapaksa had built up. Sirisena is eligible to run for a second term and could run again. His potential challengers include Wickremesinghe and one of Rajapaksa’s siblings (Rajapaksa is not eligible to run for president again due to term limits adopted during Sirisena’s presidency). Rajapaksa’s SLPP did well in local elections last year. Sri Lanka’s democracy sits on the precipice, and the upcoming elections could well determine whether it strengthens or deteriorates.
Shihar Aneez, Reuters: “Sri Lankan presidential hopeful [Gotabaya] Rajapaksa faces new lawsuits in U.S. court”
Nicholas Burkett, Foreign Brief: “Two months on, Sri Lanka is still reeling from the coordinated suicide bomb attacks on Easter Sunday that killed 258 people. Communal tensions, political turbulence and an economic downturn currently challenge the island nation.”
Taiwan Presidential and Legislative – January 11, 2020
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Taiwan has a robust democracy. The two main parties are President Tsai Ing-Wen’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT). The KMT, founded by Sun Yat-Sen, favors closer ties to the mainland, which it ruled from 1925 to 1948. The DPP, established in 1986 during Taiwan’s transition to democracy, supports Taiwan’s independence. Relations with China are a dominant theme in Taiwan’s political debate. Tsai won the DPP presidential primary, and the KMT holds its own primary next month. Candidates include Terry Guo, Taiwan’s richest man, and Beijing’s choice, Han Kuo-yu, the populist mayor of Kaohsiung, a major port city in the south. The DPP currently controls the Legislative Yuan. Last year’s local elections swept the KMT back into many local offices that they had lost during the 2014 local elections – with some assistance from China. China is expected to attempt to influence the upcoming elections as well.
Paul Huang, Foreign Policy: “Chinese Cyber-Operatives Boosted Taiwan’s Insurgent Candidate. Han Kuo-yu came out of nowhere to win a critical election. But he had a little help from the mainland.”
Yimou Lee and James Pomfret, Hong Kong Free Press: “‘Our God is China’: Pro-Beijing groups step up offensive to win over Taiwan”
AFP: “Taiwan set for pro-mainland fake news deluge before its presidential election”
Genevieve Tan, Washington Post: “How Taiwan is using same-sex marriage to assert its national identity: Liberalism in marriage laws helps bolster a separate, progressive national identity”
Mongolia Parliamentary – June 2020
Freedom House Rating: Free – Government Type: Semi-Presidential Republic
Mongolia has been a democracy since 1990 but is currently embroiled in political turmoil, and its safeguards of democracy are beginning to unravel. Politics are gridlocked due to hostilities between President Khaltmaagiin Battulga of the center-right Democratic Party (DP) and the government, appointed by the left-wing Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), which holds 65 out of 76 seats in the State Great Khural, Mongolia’s unicameral parliament. Battulga narrowly won in Mongolia’s first-ever presidential runoff 2017, and his DP only seven seats in parliament. Corruption has become a perennial problem, and has sparked protests, and many Mongolians are generally disillusioned with politicians.
David Stanway, Reuters: “Democratic but deadlocked, Mongolia braces for ‘inevitable’ political change”
Past Elections
Philippines Legislative – May 13, 2019
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Mong Palatino, Global Voices: “What will it take to combat digital authoritarianism in Southeast Asia? The rise to power of someone like Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who gained global notoriety for launching a bloody campaign against illegal drugs, is linked to the manipulation of online information tools by populists who end up dominating elections.”
CBS News: “A ‘dictator’s playbook’ is threatening democracy. This woman is fighting back.”
JC Punongbayan, Rappler: “Why is Duterte still so popular? President Rodrigo Duterte’s enduring popularity is baffling. What are the factors that might explain it?”
Indonesia Presidential, Legislative, Provincial – April 17, 2019
Freedom House Rating: Partly Free – Government Type: Presidential Republic
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh and Linda Yulisman, The Straits Times: “Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday (June 27) to uphold the results of the April 17 presidential election that handed President Joko Widodo a second term at the helm of the world’s third largest democracy. The decision puts an end to months of political uncertainty, crushing yet another bid for high office by former army general Prabowo Subianto.”
The Year Ahead: Asia
Japan, provincial elections throughout the year; Japan legislative – half of upper house (July 21); Papua New Guinea local (July 20-25); Nauru legislative (August); India, Maharashtra and Haryana states (October); Tuvalu parliamentary (September 9); New Zealand local (October 12); Hong Kong local (November 24); Marshall Islands legislative (November); Kiribati legislative (December); Sri Lanka presidential (December 7); Taiwan presidential and legislative (January 11); Kiribati presidential (March); South Korea parliamentary (April 15); Niue parliamentary (May); Mongolia parliamentary (June).
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Category: This Week Tags: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan