1935 Taiwanese local elections

Local elections were held for the first time in Taiwan by the Japanese colonial government on 22 November 1935, electing half of the city and township councillors.[1] The other half were appointed by the prefectural governors.

Only men aged 25 and above and who had paid a tax of five yen or more a year were allowed to vote, which was only 28,000 out of the 4 million population.[2] The turnout rate was 95%.[3]

Background

Before 1935, all of the city councilors were appointed by the Japanese colonial government. Since 1921, many Taiwanese political groups, including the Taiwanese People's Party led by Chiang Wei-shui and the Taiwanese Alliance for Home Rule led by Lin Hsien-tang, asked for a Taiwanese council. The Japanese government did not accept, but held city council elections instead as a compromise.

Newspaper showing the election results

References

1. Yeh-lih Wang. "The Political Consequences of the Electoral System : Single Nontransferable Voting in Taiwan" (PDF). Univie.ac.at. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
2. "Women Play a Vital Role in Taiwan's Elections". wantchinatimes.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
3. 佐瑪 (22 November 2014). "選舉風氣的演變：看國民黨曾如何用「兩張鐵票」，將台灣人的耐性逼至極限 - The News Lens 關鍵評論網".