The Duverger Syndrome is democracies' most critical illness.
Both the causes and the fixes are known.
Solutions must be applied as a matter of priority.
The 2000 and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of China, Taiwan
are the best historical illustration of Duverger's Law,
and mimic quite closely what occurred almost two centuries earlier in the United States
during their 1836 and 1840 elections.
These two elections in Taiwan perfectly illustrate the mechanism of Duverger's Law,
due to the use of plurality voting, and the core political problems that arise from it.
It is critical for Taiwan and other democracies to adopt a better voting method.
The 2000 election was only the second free popular presidential election,
and the one that would see the end of the KMT rule over the country,
and that would prove that Taiwan had indeed become a democracy.
However, opposition candidate Chen Shui-bian, although elected,
would not win with a majority of the votes.
Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 18 March 2000 to elect the president and vice president.
With a voter turnout of 83%, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
were elected president and vice president respectively with a slight plurality.
Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 20 March 2004.
A consultative referendum took place on the same day regarding relations with the People's Republic of China.
President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu of the Democratic Progressive Party
were re-elected by a narrow margin of 0.22%
over a combined opposition ticket of Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan and People First Party Chairman James Soong.
Lien and Soong refused to concede and unsuccessfully challenged the results.