The Election: A Tale of Two Countries

 Elections occur often in a "liberal democracy" as any democratic form of government requires the consent of the people. Theoretically, winning or losing elections will have consequences as to the direction a country takes politically. In many democracies this is balanced by the judicial system as well as sometimes by the executive branch. This prevents the voting public from violating societal norms in the name of an election (i.e. passing a referendum that would legalize murder). This post will compare and contrast two different Countries recent elections. 

Japan is a Core country and recently had local elections. They may be gearing up for early national elections, if the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) decides it is in their advantage to call early elections.  While this procedure of calling an early election may seem strange to Americans, we don't move our vote in general elections in June after-all, it is a feature of many parliamentary democracies (E.G. United Kingdom). Guardian 

The article dives into how the Liberal Democratic Party which has done well in the local-level elections this cycle. Wins near Hokkaido which is traditionally territory in which their rival the Constitutional Democratic Party has historically done well. The article also goes into the LDP losing ground in some western Japanese states to the Ishin (which are a right-wing party). One of the attributed reasons that the LDP may be losing ground in their connection to the Unification church (Moonies). Continued success in local elections will give the LDP party and their Prime Minister Kishida confidence to hold earlier elections. 

Paraguay on the other hand is a country very much on the Peripheral of the world-order. It boasts a liberal constitutional democracy, but the similarities do end rather quickly between Japan and Paraguay. The democratic process in Paraguay has been dominated the Colorado Party. Paraguay was under the military dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner until the 1980s and the Colorado Party was the only legal party at that time. The country has undergone a peaceful power transfer to the opposite party in 2008 so the elections do seem to be being conducted in a relatively fair manner. 

The article is regarding the role that Taiwan is playing in the Paraguayan election?! Christian Science Monitor

The Republic of China (Taiwan) maintains official diplomatic ties with Paraguay. This means that Paraguay does not have official diplomatic ties to the People Republic of China (China). They are the only South American country that has official ties to Taiwan, a relic of their past dictators anti-communist bona fides. The ruling Colorado party has said they will maintain ties with Taiwan and the opposition party had stated that they will take the larger financial package that China is offering to switch allegiances if they are elected. China is in a better position to pay up and bribe Paraguay into changing but it will remain to be seen if the issue, along with corruption issues against the Colorado Party will bring about a change. 

Both elections seem to be fair and free elections, Paraguay has many NGO election observers in the county to watch the process. They also seem similar in that people in Japan are generally happy with the economy and their lives and seem to be supporting the incumbent partly due to that fact. In Paraguay people are wanting change in their economic situation and have been more heavily polling towards the opposition party than in years past. We will have to wait and see what the future brings for elections worldwide. 

Green is the LDP and Blue are the Constitutional Democratic Party. 



Cesar Olmedo/Reuters



McCurry, J. (2023, April 10). Japan ruling party triumphs in local elections despite criticism over links to Moonies. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/10/japan-ruling-party-triumphs-in-local-election-despite-criticism-over-links-to-moonies

Page, E. (2023, April 28). What Paraguay election means for Taiwan, and US-China competition. Christian Science Monitor (Boston, Mass.: 1983). https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2023/0428/What-Paraguay-election-means-for-Taiwan-and-US-China-competition




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