two-party system.The electoral formula featuring single member and plurality could readdress asymmetric power relations between the two main parties through political realignment,competitive elections and periodical power turnovers at different levels.If the KMT and the DPP obtain similar votes and seats in the new legislature in 2016, diluting the mechanical function of single-member-district plurality that tends to enlarge the vote-to-seat ratio gap of the smaller party,it might be willing to accept the electoral outcome and be more rational in legislative operation.Nevertheless,only if Taiwan changes its power arrangement from the president-parliamentary system into the French-styled president-premier system,or simply adopts the presidential or parliamentary system,can the institutional deadlock under divided government be fundamentally resolved. B.Social Cleavages and Public Opinions The social roots of the divergent party system in Taiwan are the long-time disputes-visibly or tacitly-on whether the island should be attached to or detached from the mainland.In other words,party identification in Taiwan is shaped greatly by people's self-identification and their position on the issues of unification and independence. Numerous literatures have shown that more people nowadays identify themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese or both Taiwanese and Chinese,and more people support independence rather than unification.According to the data provided by Taiwan Election and Democratization Survey 2012 (TEDS 2012),57.3%of interviewees identified themselves as Taiwanese,3.7%as Chinese and 36.2%as both Chinese and Taiwanese. Through a cross-tabling analysis,one can find out that among those interviewees identifying themselves as Taiwanese,more preferred the DPP (47%),but for those identifying themselves as Chinese or both,more preferred the KMT(64.4%),as illustrated by Figure 1. 70 63.8 64.4 60 47 50 40 30 0 20.6 16.4 20 32 ☆ 10 0 Taiwanese Both Chinese -Prefering KMT -A-Prefering DPP Figure 1 Taiwanese Self-Identification and Party Preference Source:http://www.tedsnet.org TEDS2012 data have verified that more people in Taiwan were inclined to independence rather than unification.When interviewees were asked to position themselves on a 0-10 scale,with 0 representing the strongest feeling for independence and 10 representing strongest feeling for unification,35.7%of interviewees positioned themselves between 0-4,16.4%of interviewees chose 6-10,and 47.5%of them chose 5. Again,a cross-tabling analysis has demonstrated that among those who were inclined to 1111 two-party system. The electoral formula featuring single member and plurality could readdress asymmetric power relations between the two main parties through political realignment, competitive elections and periodical power turnovers at different levels. If the KMT and the DPP obtain similar votes and seats in the new legislature in 2016, diluting the mechanical function of single-member-district plurality that tends to enlarge the vote-to-seat ratio gap of the smaller party, it might be willing to accept the electoral outcome and be more rational in legislative operation. Nevertheless, only if Taiwan changes its power arrangement from the president-parliamentary system into the French-styled president-premier system, or simply adopts the presidential or parliamentary system, can the institutional deadlock under divided government be fundamentally resolved. B. Social Cleavages and Public Opinions The social roots of the divergent party system in Taiwan are the long-time disputes—visibly or tacitly—on whether the island should be attached to or detached from the mainland. In other words, party identification in Taiwan is shaped greatly by people’s self-identification and their position on the issues of unification and independence. Numerous literatures have shown that more people nowadays identify themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese or both Taiwanese and Chinese, and more people support independence rather than unification. According to the data provided by Taiwan Election and Democratization Survey 2012 (TEDS 2012), 57.3% of interviewees identified themselves as Taiwanese, 3.7% as Chinese and 36.2% as both Chinese and Taiwanese. Through a cross-tabling analysis, one can find out that among those interviewees identifying themselves as Taiwanese, more preferred the DPP (47%), but for those identifying themselves as Chinese or both, more preferred the KMT (64.4%), as illustrated by Figure 1. Figure 1 Taiwanese Self-Identification and Party Preference Source: http://www.tedsnet.org. TEDS2012 data have verified that more people in Taiwan were inclined to independence rather than unification. When interviewees were asked to position themselves on a 0-10 scale, with 0 representing the strongest feeling for independence and 10 representing strongest feeling for unification, 35.7% of interviewees positioned themselves between 0-4, 16.4% of interviewees chose 6-10, and 47.5% of them chose 5. Again, a cross-tabling analysis has demonstrated that among those who were inclined to