Notes from, 2024 GNA Youth Election Observation Tour
亞洲鬧世代「在台東南亞青年2024台灣總統大選觀選團」協助20名青年參與者深入體驗台灣活躍的民主。為期3天的活動提供了對台灣總統選舉過程的全面理解，並提供參與者對總統候選人和政黨的認識，同時促進青年之間的集體學習。
GNA的計劃吸引了來自不同地區的參與者，包括台灣、越南、新加坡、印尼、香港、多個歐洲國家、哥倫比亞和美國，展示了台灣民主選舉受到全球廣泛關注的情況！
Generation Now Asia's (GNA) 2024 Youth Election Observation Tour marked a significant opportunity for 20 youth participants to immerse themselves in Taiwan's vibrant democratic landscape. The 3-day program provided a comprehensive understanding of Taiwan’s presidential election process, in addition to providing knowledge of presidential candidates and parties while fostering collective learning among the participants.
GNA’s program drew participants from a diverse array of locations, including Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, various European countries, Columbia and the United States, showcasing the widespread global interest in Taiwan's democratic elections!
2024 GNA Youth Election Observation Tour Video by June Ku
On the first day of the program, participants were welcomed to engage in a pre-election lecture and election observation training. The distinguished speakers for the day included Dr. Chiung-chu Lin, an esteemed faculty member from the Department of Political Science at National Chung Cheng University. Dr. Lin, with an extensive background in political science, delivered an insightful presentation on Taiwan's electoral systems and Taiwan’s election-related regulations.
Additionally, the participants gained valuable insights from Da-Wun Sie, a Freelance Journalist known for his expertise in political reporting. Da-Wun provided an engaging presentation, offering an understanding of the focal points shaping Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election. His contribution not only enriched the participants' understanding of the upcoming election but also set the stage for an informed and exploration of the political dynamics at play.
On the program's second day, participants were assigned to observe various polling stations' preparations, tasked to check whether regulation standards were met. Armed with checklists, participants assessed various aspects, answering questions such as: Is the polling station situated in a neutral location? Are the facilities accessible to all, including individuals with disabilities?
During the evening, participants had the opportunity to attend the final campaign rallies of the presidential candidates. This experience allowed them to witness the energy of the rallies firsthand and conduct interviews with attendees. The objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the factors motivating individuals to support specific candidates and understand further what each party is standing for - This hands-on engagement offered valuable insights into the diverse motivations driving voter sentiment.
The third and final day of the program took place on Taiwan’s 2024 election day (1/13), this offered the participants the opportunity to observe the voting process and subsequent counting procedures at various polling stations. The day's activities were designed to offer a firsthand understanding of the democratic and transparent methods used during Taiwan’s electoral process.
Following the observation period, participants engaged in a comprehensive group discussion and sharing session, allowing them to reflect on their observations, exchange perspectives, and collectively analyse aspects of Taiwan’s election process.
Emily, a staff member of GNA, facilitated the post-election discussion on the program's final day. To kick off the session, she prompted all 20 participants to use just one word to describe what they felt or experienced during the past three days. The responses varied including words such as; solidarity, inspired, fun, optimistic, curious, exciting, essential, moved, and more. These expressions captured the diverse range of feelings and insights gained throughout the program by different participants.
Following that, we divided into three groups to delve deeper into our observations and were given the opportunity to present our findings. The discussions were insightful, benefiting from the diverse backgrounds of the participants - with some coming from democratic countries and others not - a broad spectrum of perspectives and observations enriched the conversation.
Here are some points presented by each group:
Group 1 comments:
“In Vietnam, we call elections the national festival of the people, but we’ve never felt it, and yet this time now that we’re here in Taiwan at the elections we were able to see the true national festival, the process was fun, transparent, the process was friendly and also secure! Our major takeaway [of observing Taiwan’s 2024 elections] would be transparency, because we come from Vietnam we don’t get to know what our government is really doing”
Group 2 comments:
“Efficiency is a word that really came up for us, when observing Taiwan’s democratic process it all seemed very efficient. We also noticed the high percentage of women that were working at the polling stations and would like to mention that. I guess our key takeaway is there seems to be some fatigue with politics as usual in Taiwan”
Group 3 comments:
“For the polling process we were not allowed in when the voters came and voted so we had to stay outside but for the counting it was very clear and very organised, there were people that were coming and filming the whole process” “We went to the DPP and KMT rally, which were a bit different! It was interesting to observe the difference; DPP's felt family friendly and like a rock concert, whereas KMT’s rally had a lot more men and lots of cheerleaders.”
Do you want to read more about the details of Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election? If so, these articles written by some of GNA’s tour’s attendees and speakers may be of interest to you!
Kristina Kironska:
Da-Wun Sie:
- https://www.upmedia.mg/news_info.php?Type=2&SerialNo=193038
- https://theinitium.com/article/20240115-opinion-taiwan-election-momentum
And check out Da-Wun Sie's interview with GNA's volunteer videographer June Ku below in the video below!
並在下面的影片中查看Da-Wun Sie對GNA攝影志工June Ku的採訪！
學員們在活動第一天參與選前講座和選舉觀察培訓，當天的主講人包括來自國立中正大學政治學系的林瓊珠博士。林博士擁有豐富的政治學背景，她就台灣的選舉制度和選舉相關法規發表了精闢的演講。
以政治報導見長的自由記者謝達文也為學員提供了寶貴的見解。達文的演講引人入勝，帶領學員認識「影響2024 年總統選舉的焦點」，讓他們深入理解即將到來的大選、探索正在發生的政治動態。
在第二天的活動中，學員們被分配到各個投票所觀察準備工作、檢查是否符合規定標準，對各個方面進行評估，例如，投票所是否位於中立地點？設施是否對於所有人，包括殘障人士來說是友善的？
到了晚上，學員們參與總統候選人的最後一次競選集會，這次經歷讓他們親眼目睹了集會的活力，並對與會者進行採訪。目的是更深入地了解「促使個人支持特定候選人的種種因素」，並進一步了解每個政黨的立場—這種親身參與的方式為「瞭解驅動選民情緒的各種動機」提供了寶貴的見解。
活動的最後一天，是臺灣 2024 年大選日（1/13），學員將在各個投票所觀摩投票過程和計票程序，旨在讓學員親身瞭解臺灣民主、透明的選舉過程。
觀摩結束後，學員進行了小組討論和分享，對自己的觀察進行反思、交流觀點，並對臺灣選舉過程的各個方面進行全面分析。
在計畫的最後一天，由GNA 的Emily主持選舉後的討論，她讓20位學員用一個詞來描述他們在過去三天中的感受或經歷。大家的回答五花八門，在整個活動中有不同感受和見解，包括團結、鼓舞、有趣、樂觀、好奇、興奮、重要、感動等。
隨後我們分為三組，深入研究我們的觀察結果與發現。學員的背景各不相同，有的來自民主國家，有的則不是，這些廣泛的視角與觀察使得討論內容更加豐富。
以下是各組提出的一些觀點：
第 1 組評論：
「在越南，我們稱選舉為人民的國慶日，但我們從未感受過，然而這次我們來到臺灣參加選舉，我們能夠看到真正的國慶日，過程有趣、透明，同時也是友好、安全的！我們在「觀察臺灣 2024 年選舉」中的主要收穫是透明度，因為我們來自越南，我們無法瞭解我們的政府到底在做什麼。」
第 2 組評論：
「在觀察臺灣的民主時，效率是我們想到的一個詞，一切流程都非常有效率。還有一點值得一提，我們注意到在投票所工作的女性比例很高。我想我們的主要收穫是，在臺灣，人們似乎對一如既往的政治感到厭倦了。」
第 3 組評論：
「當選民前來投票時，我們不被允許進入，所以我們只能待在外面，但計票過程中非常清楚，也非常有組織性，還有人來拍攝整個過程。」「我們參加了民進黨和國民黨的集會，兩者有些不同！觀察兩者的差異很有意思，民進黨的集會給人一種家庭友好的感覺，就像一場搖滾音樂會，而國民黨的集會則有更多的男性和支持者。」
您想了解更多有關台灣 2024 年總統選舉的詳細資訊嗎？如果是這樣，您可能會對GNA的一些參與者和演講者撰寫的這些文章感興趣！
Kristina Kironska:
Da-Wun Sie:
