ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how electoral systems affect the process of democratic transition and post-transitional stability. Democratization in Taiwan and South Korea will then be compared with Japan's pre–World War II movement for universal suffrage. In the subsequent month, when a vote of no confidence brought down the Miyazawa cabinet, some other Liberal Democratic Party Diet members formed the New Party Sakigake and the Renewal Party. The inauguration of a direct presidential election in 1987 and the associated electoral reform could be seen as a partial response to popular demands for democratization. The chapter looks at the extent to which electoral competition is self-corrective, that is, whether the government's payoff accords with its performance. It focuses on how voters use their ballot to hold officeholders accountable. The chapter also focuses how electoral systems have shaped the birth, growth, and durability of democracy in the three East Asian countries.
