Taipei, Dec. 14 ( CNA) More than 80 percent of voters in the 20-39 age group with college degrees or higher have no knowledge of Taiwan's "single-member constituency, two vote" electoral system, according to the results of an online survey released Wednesday. The survey, which was conducted jointly by Business Today, Taipei Society and Citizen Congress Watch, showed that only 17.8 percent people in that age bracket are aware that they have one vote for a candidate running for a regional seat and another vote for a party in the Jan. 14 legislative election. Meanwhile, around 62.4 percent of young people see the nomination of legislators at-large as a form of political patronage, according to the survey. At the time of the poll, 48.4 percent of the respondents said they had not decided which party to vote for, while other 46.5 percent said they did not support any particular party. The "single-member constituency, two vote" electoral system was adopted in Taiwan in 2008 when the number of legislative seats was halved from 226 to 113 seats. Commenting on the poll, Citizen Congress Watch Chairman Ku Chung-hwa said young people generally lack political awareness. It is vital to educate them on how political issues affect their personal lives and the society, he said. This will encourage more young people to become involved in political activities, which in turn will help to improve the country's political climate, he said. The survey, which collected 1,071valid responses, had confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. ( By Tseng Ying-yu and Maia Huang)
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