TAIPEI : A Commonwealth Test
On Saturday, Taiwan also takes another major step forward for democracy when the country holds its first election providing for the entire legislature to be chosen by the voters.
The Legislative Yuan, or Parliament, has been dominated by elderly representatives chosen in mainland China in the late 1940s--before the ruling Nationalist Party government lost a civil war to the communists and fled to the island of Taiwan in 1949.
Continued Nationalist control of the 161-seat legislature is not in doubt. But the elections will provide a measure of the strength of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and of rival Nationalist factions.
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