About me
Nathan Batto is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica and Jointly Appointed Associate Research Fellow at the Election Study Center, National Chengchi University. I first came to Taiwan in 1989 and spent most of the 1990s on the island. I’ve been to countless election rallies and have a nice collection of campaign flags to show for it.
Frozen Garlic 
December 19, 2012 at 1:42 pm |
Hello, I have just changed my email and would like to stay notified of your postings. But I forgot how I subscribed to your website. Could you please help me out? (Below is my new email.)
Thanks,
Wei
December 19, 2012 at 2:50 pm |
Wei-sheng, sorry I have no idea how that is done. Maybe someone else can help you out.
December 15, 2014 at 7:52 am |
Hello Nathan, Nice blog. Do you know where to find the results of the councilor elections for New and Old Taipei cities?
Thanks, Wayne
December 15, 2014 at 9:26 am |
You can find the results at the Central Election Commission’s website. http://db.cec.gov.tw/ If you don’t read Chinese, the Election Study Center also maintains a database in English. http://vote.nccu.edu.tw/engcec/vote4a.asp
October 29, 2015 at 5:16 pm |
collection of campaign flags. really? Wow..show us the photo please..
November 2, 2015 at 3:39 am |
Here are a couple of samples.
https://frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/my-flora-expo/
https://frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/frozen-garlics-best-flags-of-the-year/
November 2, 2015 at 6:21 am
Haha.. They are really nice n can’t stop laughing. Thanks for help to kick away my Monday blue..
November 12, 2015 at 9:36 am |
Hello Nathan, I just want to say thanks for so many informative articles about Taiwan life. Keep up the excellent work.
December 27, 2015 at 4:25 pm |
Hi Nathan, your blog is extremely interesting. Would you mind writing a brief overview of the main parties’ 2016 electoral platforms? It’s very difficult to find anything substantive on matters of policy. Most coverage focuses only on the horse race, as it were. If you’ve already done so, or know of where someone else has, could you please provide a link? Thanks!!
December 28, 2015 at 3:15 pm |
I don’t write about policy platforms very much for a couple of reasons. On the one hand, I write about what interests me, and I’m interested in power. On the other hand, Taiwan is basically a one cleavage polity. The overwhelming majority of people make their decision based on some feeling about Taiwan’s relationship with China. Detailed policy questions matter even less in elections here than in other countries. The election might build momentum for some general principle, such as expanding the welfare state, but the details will all be worked out after the election, often with cross-party cooperation. Remember, political parties can compromise or change positions on any policy that isn’t essential to their supporters. In Taiwan, that means that any party plank unrelated to China is always open to negotiation.
January 12, 2016 at 10:13 am |
Just wanted to plug a recent podcast with Dr. Shelley Rigger (who referred me to this blog) and Paul Haenle on the elections this weekend and the future of cross-Strait relations. Audio here: http://carnegietsinghua.org/2016/01/02/2016-taiwan-elections-with-dr.-shelley-rigger/ioi9 and Full Transcript: http://carnegieendowment.org/files/1.2.2016_Rigger_Podcast_Transcript_Final_Clean_Version.pdf
January 15, 2016 at 1:32 pm |
Nathan,
You are a god send. Thank you so much for all the work you put into this website.
I am an American, in Taiwan for my first election. I’m a bit of a politics nut in the U.S., but it has been so hard to find good material on the election in English. Especially on anything except at the presidential level.
My co-workers helped me find a rally tonight, and I’ll be going to my first one. Hung tzu-yong in Taichung.
Quick question,
Do you know if there are any maps of the voting districts? I can’t find anything. Or maybe a list of which city districts are inside of which voting districts?
Again, thanks for all your hard work, and I’ll be following this blog to see how you break down the results.
Happy Election Day,
Cory
November 18, 2016 at 9:47 am |
[…] The following is a guest post by Nathan Batto […]
June 30, 2017 at 10:18 am |
Nathan — Just got your blog on civil servant pension reform through a friend. Congratulations on a thoughtful perspective on a tough issue.
How did I subscribe to your blog?
thanks,
Dave