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s a member of the Demo- “The social movement has “ People like us,
cratic Progressive Party made us cherish what (democra-
A(DPP) Youth, holding cy) we have now. We realize how as their team
dialogue sessions with lawmakers easily it can be taken away,” the members and
and young people, taking part in National Taiwan Normal Univer- supporters, also
election campaigns and making sity student says. have to work
videos for social media posts are
on university student Tsai Ping- “There is only one president, hard to help
an’s duty list and 113 legislators in Taiwan. It is Taiwan move for-
not enough to rely on them alone ward ”
Tsai joined DPP’s youth or- to make Taiwan a better place. Among 19.3 million voters,
ganization in 2021. He helped so- People like us, as their team mem- one million are first-time voters,
licit votes at the 2022 Taipei mayor bers and supporters, also have to amounting to six per cent of the
election for DPP’s candidate Chen work hard to help Taiwan move total population according to Tai-
Shih-chung and the four major forward,” Tsai says. wan’s Central Election Commis-
referendums in 2021 for issues sion. Meanwhile, at least a quarter
ranging from environment, and He has met many others in his of voters are between 20-40 years
energy to food safety. peer group who share the same old. The figures show that young
core values as him at campaign voters have a significant impact
In January 2024, Tsai helped rallies and activities held by DPP. on the outcome of the election.
(DPP) president-elect Willian Lai
Ching-te to solicit votes in the “Taiwanese of all ages know In Taiwan, citizens aged 20
2024 presidential election. that our road to democracy has years old or above are eligible vot-
always been rocky. We now enjoy ers.
The 21-year-old says the 2019 freedom of speech after 38 years 6 % are First-time voters
social movement in Hong Kong is of martial law. We can protest. We
a wake-up call for him. must work hard to protect our sys-
tem,” he adds.

Taking My Opinions Into
the Legislative Yuan

Li Guan-ting, another universi-
ty student, shares Cai’s view about
civic participation, but does not
share his choice of political party.
Li joined the Taiwan People’s Par-
Tsai Ping-an, a cadre of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Youth, in the ty’s (TPP) Youth Organisation in
DPP’s campaign headquarters. 2022.