Date: 21Mar 2016
A “negative vote” is a vote cast against a candidate or a party. Although each voter still has only one vote, (s)he has the option to vote “no” instead of “yes”. Proponents of this system believe that this option should be a basic right for all voters, citing its potential benefit to improve democratic processes in countries if it is implemented as well as reducing tensions in volatile states.
The system certainly appears to promise increased voter participation. The Negative Vote Association in Taiwan commissioned 3 Gallup surveys to evaluate the impact of Negative Vote in elections. The results of these polls are surprising and may, in some cases, even be called shocking.
This event will encourage audience participation and interaction with the speaker in the discussion of Negative Votes. Prior to attending, the speaker would like to invite members of the audience to consider whether “negative voting” might offer a solution that could simultaneously satisfy both Hong Kong’s expectation for genuine universal suffrage and Beijing’s desire to control the nomination process?
Mr. Chang is founder and President of Negative Vote Association, an NGO dedicated to the improvement of democracy via adoption of the Negative Vote. He is also an independent mergers & acquisitions advisor with 40 years of business experience in the U.S. and Asia. Mr. Chang serves on the boards of several public companies in Taiwan and a non-public joint venture between PRC and Taiwanese companies.
His former positions include serving as Managing Director at CSFB, Head of M&A at UBS Asia, and Head of Taiwan investment banking at Salomon Brothers. Mr. Chang received his MBA from The Wharton School in 1977, and A.B. cum laude from Harvard College in 1974.
