《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》Alliance changes stance on preference voting

By Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance yesterday said it would not encourage voters to engage in “ballot allocation,” backing away from previous statements.

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“We will not actively call for ballot allocation. While we do not have, and will not, recommend a presidential candidate, we will push as hard as we can to rally support for our district candidates and urge voters to support us on the legislators-at-large ballot,” Green Party co-chairman Lee Ken-cheng （李根政） said.

Under ballot allocation, voters are encouraged to strategically distribute their votes to maximize the election of candidates from a similar ideological background.

While traditionally used in multi-seat districts, the strategy was also employed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union （TSU） to increase its votes on the legislator-at-large party ballot in the last election, with the party issuing a call for all pan-green voters to allocate at least one legislator-at-large party ballot to the party.

Social Democratic Party （SDP） Chairwoman Fan Yun （范雲） earlier this week used language closely mirroring the TSU’s to call for both pan-green and pan-blue voters to allocate at least one vote to the party.

Her party formed an electoral alliance with the Green Party last year to pool their legislator-at-large votes, increasing the chances that the Alliance slate would cross the 5 percent threshold required to win legislator-at-large seats.

SDP secretary-general Yeh Hung-ling （葉虹靈） yesterday said Fan’s remarks should be interpreted as a general call for votes.

“Vote allocation assumes that you have targeted certain people who are willing to listen to your instructions,” she said. “Our plea is that everyone support a small party which cares for the environment and disadvantaged people.”

Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） on Wednesday called on supporters to vote only for the DPP on their legislator-at-large ballots, with party officials claiming that informal “ballot allocation” was threatening to cut into the party’s “safe” list of legislator-at-large seats.

Both the Alliance and the similar “third force” New Power Party have competed for pan-green support, actively seeking DPP endorsement for district candidates and appearing in events with DPP officials.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES