marginalized and may therefore resort to extra-systematic confrontation with the ruling party,thus making political compromise and consensual party politics impossible. Symmetric power relations between the ruling and opposition parties,however,cannot guarantee consensual party politics,as a divergent party system may result from other factors,such as social cleavages,different supporters of the main parties,as well as parties' traditional ideologies and policy platforms. II.Toward a Balanced Two Party System Party politics in Taiwan is associated with the birth of the DPP in 1986,with the KMT as the dominant ruling party until 2000.The splits of KMT in 1993 and 2000 have not only produced three new parties,the Chinese New Party (CNP),the People First Party (PFP)and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU),but also contributed to the DPP's dominance of executive power between 2000 and 2008.Still,the DPP administration was constrained by the majority Pan Blue camp (The KMT,CNP and PFP)in Taiwan's legislature during this period.Since 2008,the KMT has dominated both executive and legislative branches.In general,power relations between the two parties have been asymmetric at the top level,and are likely to change in the near future. A.Party System at the Local Level At the local level,power relations between the KMT and DPP are more balanced. From 1989 to 2014,Taiwan had conducted elections for city mayors and county magistrates seven times,and elections for Taipei and Kaohsiung metropolitan mayors six times.In 2010,Taipei County was upgraded as New Taipei City,Kaohsiung County became part of Kaohsiung City,Taichung County and Tainan County became part of new cities of Taichung and Tainan,respectively.In 2014,Taoyuan County was also upgraded as Taoyuan City.These six metropolises have about 69%of Taiwanese population and enjoy much more financial resources than the other 16 cities and counties.During the 2014 "nine-in-one"elections,the DPP not only maintained Kaohsiung and Tainan mayoral seats and took away Taipei,Taoyuan and Taichung mayoralties from the hands of the KMT,but also won the majority of local executive posts,thus increasing greatly the likelihood of the DPP's coming back to power in 2016(Table 1 2).1 Table 1 Vote and Seat Shares in Mayoral and Magisterial Elections(1989-2014) Year Seat KMT DPP PFP CNP Other Vote% Seat Vote% Seat Vote%Seat Vote% Seat Vote% Seat 1989 23 56.1 16 30.1 6 13.8 1 1993 23 47.5 15 41.0 6 3.1 0 8.4 2 1994 2 35.7 42.2 21.0 0 1.1 0 1997 23 42.1 8 43.2 12 1.4 0 13.1 3 1998 2 50.1 46.9 3.0 0 0.8 0 Although Mr.Ko Wen-je ran for Taiwan mayoral seat as a nonpartisan in 2014,he was actually endorsed by the DPP, which did not nominate a candidate for Taipei mayoral election.2 marginalized and may therefore resort to extra-systematic confrontation with the ruling party, thus making political compromise and consensual party politics impossible. Symmetric power relations between the ruling and opposition parties, however, cannot guarantee consensual party politics, as a divergent party system may result from other factors, such as social cleavages, different supporters of the main parties, as well as parties’ traditional ideologies and policy platforms. II. Toward a Balanced Two Party System Party politics in Taiwan is associated with the birth of the DPP in 1986, with the KMT as the dominant ruling party until 2000. The splits of KMT in 1993 and 2000 have not only produced three new parties, the Chinese New Party (CNP), the People First Party (PFP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), but also contributed to the DPP’s dominance of executive power between 2000 and 2008. Still, the DPP administration was constrained by the majority Pan Blue camp (The KMT, CNP and PFP) in Taiwan’s legislature during this period. Since 2008, the KMT has dominated both executive and legislative branches. In general, power relations between the two parties have been asymmetric at the top level, and are likely to change in the near future. A. Party System at the Local Level At the local level, power relations between the KMT and DPP are more balanced. From 1989 to 2014, Taiwan had conducted elections for city mayors and county magistrates seven times, and elections for Taipei and Kaohsiung metropolitan mayors six times. In 2010, Taipei County was upgraded as New Taipei City, Kaohsiung County became part of Kaohsiung City, Taichung County and Tainan County became part of new cities of Taichung and Tainan, respectively. In 2014, Taoyuan County was also upgraded as Taoyuan City. These six metropolises have about 69% of Taiwanese population and enjoy much more financial resources than the other 16 cities and counties. During the 2014 “nine-in-one” elections, the DPP not only maintained Kaohsiung and Tainan mayoral seats and took away Taipei, Taoyuan and Taichung mayoralties from the hands of the KMT, but also won the majority of local executive posts, thus increasing greatly the likelihood of the DPP’s coming back to power in 2016 (Table 1 & 2).1 Table 1 Vote and Seat Shares in Mayoral and Magisterial Elections (1989-2014) Year Seat KMT DPP PFP CNP Other Vote% Seat Vote% Seat Vote% Seat Vote% Seat Vote% Seat 1989 23 56.1 16 30.1 6 / / 13.8 1 1993 23 47.5 15 41.0 6 / 3.1 0 8.4 2 1994 2 35.7 1 42.2 1 / 21.0 0 1.1 0 1997 23 42.1 8 43.2 12 / 1.4 0 13.1 3 1998 2 50.1 1 46.9 1 / 3.0 0 0.8 0 1 Although Mr. Ko Wen-je ran for Taiwan mayoral seat as a nonpartisan in 2014, he was actually endorsed by the DPP, which did not nominate a candidate for Taipei mayoral election