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Charge Me if You Can: Assessing Political Biases in Vote-buying Verdicts in Democratic Taiwan (2000–2010)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2012

Chung-li Wu
Chung-li Wu*
Affiliation:
Academia Sinica. Email: polclw@gate.sinica.edu.tw
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Abstract

While the judicial system is an important part of any given political regime, other than in a few Western countries, it has received comparatively little attention. This study employs vote-buying litigation as a litmus test to inquire whether or not the judiciary in Taiwan is politically biased in its judgments. Vote buying has long marred Taiwan's elections and the general public does not seem to trust the judicial system to be independent of political influences. This study examines the impact of political variables (including partisanship, whether candidates are elected or not, and the type of election) on court decisions in vote-buying litigation between 2000 and 2010. The article looks at these decisions at three levels: district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court. The empirical findings indicate that the effects of political factors are considerably less an influence than expected on trial outcomes.

Keywords

judicial systemcourtpolitical factorvote-buying litigationKuomintangTaiwan
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 211 , September 2012 , pp. 786 - 805
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2012 

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Footnotes

*

An early version of this essay was presented at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington DC, September 4, 2010. The author would like to thank the two anonymous referees and the editor of The China Quarterly for their constructive suggestions and guidance.

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