Young Voters Cast Ballots With High Hopes for Taiwan's Future
Young voters were a key group that all three of Taiwan's presidential candidates campaigned hard to win over. We followed one of them to learn about her experience voting for the first time.
Transcript
00:00 Today we are here to vote for the presidential election.
00:04 I'm a little nervous.
00:09 I was afraid I would vote wrongly.
00:10 I was afraid I would make a mistake.
00:13 The presidential election is about...
00:15 It feels like it's about the whole world.
00:17 Come, you can go in now.
00:20 This is Sydney Chung's first time voting
00:22 in a presidential election in Taiwan.
00:24 It's a rite of passage in a country
00:26 with a high voter turnout.
00:28 We accompanied her to the polling station,
00:30 a small booth near the house she grew up in,
00:33 to learn about her hopes for Taiwan's future.
00:36 I'm a student now,
00:38 so I hope that
00:40 they can give us better benefits
00:44 or opportunities to find a job in the future.
00:46 Two issues facing many young people in Taiwan
00:49 are few job opportunities and low wages,
00:52 things that are on these voters' minds
00:54 more often than geopolitical issues.
00:56 People in Sydney's generation have grown up
00:58 under the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP,
01:02 which has already been in power for eight years.
01:05 But as Sydney went to college away from home,
01:07 she noticed that her friends now express
01:09 their own unique political opinions,
01:11 as Taiwan's political scene gets more polarized.
01:14 Why? Because...
01:16 Because...
01:18 Because...
01:20 Because...
01:22 Because...
01:24 Because...
01:26 Because...
01:28 Because...
01:30 Because...
01:32 Because...
01:34 Because...
01:35 Sydney says she isn't very vocal about politics
01:37 on social media.
01:39 So by quietly submitting her vote,
01:41 this is her first time making her voice heard
01:43 on what kind of person she thinks should leave Taiwan.
01:46 And regardless of the results,
01:48 she's optimistic the winner will keep
01:50 the people's best interests in mind.
01:52 I believe that no matter who is elected,
01:56 they will listen to our demands.
01:59 After all, they are electing the president.
02:01 The president's position is very important
02:04 and very important to the people.
02:06 Sydney is one of the 14 million voters in Taiwan
02:11 who came out on Saturday to cast their ballot.
02:14 And about one million were like Sydney,
02:16 voting for the first time.
02:17 She says that while her single vote may seem small,
02:20 she knows it can still make a difference.
02:22 Although I'm not a big shot,
02:27 I think my vote will change the society,
02:30 the world, and the future of cross-strait relations.
02:33 I think there will be different changes.
02:35 Dolphin Chen, Patrick Chen, and Tiffany Wong
02:38 in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
02:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]