2008 Taiwanese legislative election

The 2008 Taiwanese legislative election was held on 12 January 2008 for members of the Legislative Yuan. It was the first Legislative Yuan election after the constitutional amendments of 2005, which extended term length from three to four years, reduced seat count from 225 to 113, and introduced the current electoral system.

2008 Taiwanese legislative election

12 January 2008 (2008-01-12)[1]

All 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan
57 seats needed for a majority
Registered17,179,656[lower-alpha 1]
Turnout58.50%[lower-alpha 2] 0.85 pp
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Wu Po-hsiung Chen Shui-bian
Party Kuomintang DPP
Leader since 27 February 2007 15 October 2007
Last election 32.83% 35.72%
Seats before 79 out of 225 89 out of 225
Seats won 81 27
Popular vote 5,010,801[lower-alpha 3] 3,610,106[lower-alpha 3]
Percentage 51.23% 36.91%
Swing 18.40 pp 1.19 pp
Constituency seats won[lower-alpha 4] 61 out of 74 13 out of 71

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Lin Pin-kuan James Soong
Party NPSU People First
Leader since 15 June 2007 31 March 2000
Last election 3.63% 13.90%
Seats before 6 out of 225 34 out of 225
Seats won 3 1
Popular vote 68,527[lower-alpha 3] Did not stand[lower-alpha 3]
Percentage 0.70% N/A
Swing 2.93 pp N/A
Constituency seats won[lower-alpha 5] 3 out of 5 1 out of 3

Elected member party by constituency

Party-list leading party and vote count by township/city and district

The results gave the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Pan-Blue Coalition a supermajority (86 of the 113 seats) in the legislature, handing a heavy defeat to then-President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party, which won the remaining 27 seats only. The junior partner in the Pan-Green Coalition, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, won no seats.

Two transitional justice referendums, both of which failed to pass due to low turnout, were held at the same time.

Legislature reform

For the first time in the history of Taiwan, most members of the Legislative Yuan were to be elected from single-member districts: 73 of the 113 members were chosen in such districts by the plurality voting system (first-past-the-post). Parallel to the single member constituencies, 34 seats under an Additional Member System were elected in one national district by party-list proportional representation. For these seats, only political parties whose votes exceed a five percent threshold were eligible for the allocation. Six further seats were reserved for Taiwanese aborigines. Therefore, each elector had two ballots under parallel voting.

The aboriginal members were elected by single non-transferable vote in two 3-member constituencies for lowland aborigines and highland aborigines respectively. This did not fulfill the promise in the treaty-like document A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan, where each of the 13 recognized indigenous peoples was to get at least one seat, and the distinction between highland and lowland abolished.

The breakdown by administrative unit was:[2]

JurisdictionSeatsJurisdictionSeatsJurisdictionSeats
Taipei City8Taichung City3Kaohsiung County4
Kaohsiung City5Changhua County4Pingtung County3
Taipei County12Yunlin County2Yilan County1
Keelung City1Nantou County2Hualien County1
Taoyuan County6Chiayi County2Taitung County1
Hsinchu City1Chiayi City1Penghu County1
Hsinchu County1Tainan County3Kinmen County1
Miaoli County2Tainan City2Lienchiang County1
Taichung County5

The delimitation of the single-member constituencies within the cities and counties was a major political issue, with bargaining between the government and the legislature. Of the 15 cities and counties to be partitioned (the ten others have only one seat), only seven of the districting schemes proposed by the CEC were approved in a normal way. The eight other schemes were decided by drawing lots: "Taipei and Taichung cities and Miaoli and Changhua counties will adopt the version suggested by the CEC, while Kaohsiung city will follow the consensus of the legislature. Taipei county will follow the proposal offered by the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union, Taoyuan county will adopt the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s scheme, and Pingtung county will use the scheme agreed upon by the Non-partisan Solidarity Union, People First Party, Kuomintang and Taiwan Solidarity Union."[3]

Impact of the electoral system

The elections were the first held under a new electoral system which had been approved by both major parties in constitutional amendments adopted in 2005, but which one political scientist has argued favored the KMT. The rules are set up so that every county has at least one seat, which gave a higher representation for smaller counties in which the KMT traditionally has done well. Northern counties tend to be marginally in favor of KMT, whereas southern counties tend to be strongly for DPP, and the single member system limits this advantage. The partially led to the result that the legislative count was highly in favor of the KMT while the difference in the number of votes cast for the KMT and DPP were less dramatic.[4]

It was considered possible that the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election would be held on the same day as this election, but this was eventually not the case, with the presidential happening 10 weeks later, in March. Two referendums were held on the same date.

Results

Summary

A summarised results of the parties that won seats at the election is as follows:

Party Leader Overall District and indigenous seats Party-list seats
Seats % Seats Votes % Seats Votes %
Kuomintang Wu Po-hsiung 81 71.68%
81 / 113
61 5,291,512 53.50%
20 5,010,801 51.23%
Democratic Progressive Party Chen Shui-bian 27 23.89%
27 / 113
13 3,775,352 38.17%
14 3,610,106 36.91%
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Lin Pin-kuan 3 2.65%
3 / 113
3 239,317 2.42%
0 344,887 3.53%
People First Party James Soong 1 0.88%
1 / 113
0 28,254 0.29%
0 Did not stand 0.00%

Full results

27 3 81
DPP N KMT
Summary of Taiwan Legislative Yuan elections, 2008[1]
Parties Constituency and
Aboriginal
Party list Total seats
Votes % +/−[2] Seats Votes % Seats Outgoing % Incoming % +/−[2]
   Kuomintang registration 5,291,512 53.5 +20.7 61 5,010,801 51.2 20 90 40.0 81 71.7 +31.7
     Kuomintang 54 17 85 71
     People First Party co-nomination[3] 5 3 - 8
     New Party endorsement[4] 2 - 5 2
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union

[5]

239,317 2.4 -1.2 3 68,527 0.7 0 8 3.6 3 2.7 -0.9
People First Party[3] 28,254 0.3 -13.3 1 - - - 20 8.9 1 0.9 -8.0
New Party[4] - - (-0.1) - 386,660 4.0 0 - - 0 0 -
Pan-Blue coalition[6] 5,559,083 56.2 +5.7 65 5,465,988 55.9 20 118 52.4 85 75.2 +22.8
   Democratic Progressive Party 3,775,352 38.2 +2.5 13 3,610,106 36.9 14 90 40.0 27 23.9 -16.1
Taiwan Solidarity Union 93,840 0.9 -6.9 0 344,887 3.5 0 7 3.1 0 0 -3.1
Green Party Taiwan[7] 14,767 0.1 0 58,473 0.6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Taiwan Constitution Association 3,926 <0.1 0 30,315 0.3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pan-Green coalition 3,877,885 38.6 -4.3 13 4,043,781 41.6 14 97 43.1 27 23.9 -19.2
   Home Party 6,355 <0.1 0 77,870 0.8 0 0 0 0 0 0
Taiwan Farmers' Party 8,681 <0.1 0 57,144 0.6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Civil Party 6,562 <0.1 0 48,192 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Third Society Party 10,057 0.1 0 45,594 0.5 0 1 0.4 0 0 -0.4
Hakka Party 8,860 <0.1 0 42,004 0.4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Independents[6] 393,346 4.0 -1.9 1 - - - 1 0.4 1 0.9 +0.5
Vacant - - - - - - - 8 3.6 - - -
Total[8] 10,050,619 - - - 10,076,239 - - 225 100 113 100 -

1. ^ The results of the election have been released by the Central Election Commission of Taiwan (pdf)
2. ^ This is the first legislative election in Taiwan in which voters cast separate ballots for constituency and party list candidates. In past elections, voters cast only a constituency ballot, and party list allocation was determined by the total constituency votes that each party received. Due to limited comparability between this election and past elections, an increase / decrease comparison is made here for: constituency votes received in 2004 vs 2008 and percentage of total seats in outgoing legislature vs incoming legislature in 2008.
3. ^ In a pre-election agreement, the Kuomintang and the People First Party agreed to register most PFP constituency candidates as KMT candidates, and nominate a common KMT party list, in order to prevent splitting of the Pan-Blue vote. The PFP won one aboriginal seat it contested under its own name, five constituency seats contested under the KMT banner, and three seats within the KMT party list.
4. ^ Under New Party direction, all New Party legislators in the outgoing legislature had joined the KMT, and New Party members ran as KMT candidates with New Party endorsement in this election. The New Party ran only party list candidates in this election but failed to pass the 5% threshold.
5. ^ The NPSU is formally neither part of the Pan-Blue or Pan-Green coalition, but its members tend to ally themselves with the pan-Blue coalition, and were endorsed by the KMT in this election.
6. ^ Chen Fu-hai of Kinmen, the lone independent elected in this election, is a former KMT member and endorses the KMT presidential campaign. Hence the strength of the Pan-Blue coalition is taken as 86. (see here) The outgoing independent is Li Ao, who while refusing ally with either coalition, usually voted with pan-Blue.
7. ^ The Green Party Taiwan is sympathetic to Taiwan nationalism and shares a number of centre-left positions with the Pan-Green Coalition, the party emphasizes campaigning primarily on social and environmental issues. 8. ^ Total ballots cast. The turnout was 58.28% for the party-list ballots and 58.5% for the constituency ballots. In addition to the parties above, the following minor parties did not contest party list seats and did not win constituency seats: Dadao Compassion Jishih Party, Democratic Freedom Party, Hongyun Jhongyi Party, World Peace Party.

Legislators elected through constituency and aborigine ballots

Constituency Elected candidate(s) Popular vote
Taipei City Constituency 1 Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) 59.81%
Taipei City Constituency 2 Justin Chou 52.39%
Taipei City Constituency 3 John Chiang 60.25%
Taipei City Constituency 4 Alex Tsai 62.25%
Taipei City Constituency 5 Lin Yu-fang 58.24%
Taipei City Constituency 6 Diane Lee 66.80%
Taipei City Constituency 7 Alex Fai (費鴻泰) 65.79%
Taipei City Constituency 8 Lai Shyh-bao 71.81%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 1 Huang Chao-shun 58.29%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 2 Kuan Bi-ling 48.84%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 3 Hou Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) 49.13%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 4 Lee Fu-hsing 51.32%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 5 Kuo Wen-chen (郭玟成) 46.01%
Taipei County Constituency 1 Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) 58.38%
Taipei County Constituency 2 Lin Shu-fen 43.17%
Taipei County Constituency 3 Yu Tian 49.51%
Taipei County Constituency 4 Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) 51.73%
Taipei County Constituency 5 Huang Chih-hsiung 52.32%
Taipei County Constituency 6 Lin Hung-chih 56.93%
Taipei County Constituency 7 Wu Chin-chih 55.82%
Taipei County Constituency 8 Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) 59.55%
Taipei County Constituency 9 Lin Te-fu (林德福) 69.61%
Taipei County Constituency 10 Lu Chia-chen 60.10%
Taipei County Constituency 11 Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) 69.69%
Taipei County Constituency 12 Lee Ching-hua 51.96%
Keelung City Hsieh Kuo-liang 67.79%
Yilan County Lin Chien-jung (林建榮) 53.12%
Taoyuan County Constituency 1 Chen Ken-te (陳根德) 61.76%
Taoyuan County Constituency 2 Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) 54.57%
Taoyuan County Constituency 3 John Wu 63.22%
Taoyuan County Constituency 4 Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) 62.42%
Taoyuan County Constituency 5 Chu Fong-chi 63.76%
Taoyuan County Constituency 6 Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) 65.02%
Hsinchu County Chiu Ching-chun 66.52%
Hsinchu City Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) 60.61%
Miaoli County Constituency 1 Li Yi-ting 58.01%
Miaoli County Constituency 2 Hsu Yao-chang 45.62%
Taichung County Constituency 1 Liu Chuan-chung 53.59%
Taichung County Constituency 2 Yen Ching-piao 59.94%
Taichung County Constituency 3 Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) 54.95%
Taichung County Constituency 4 Shyu Jong-shyong 64.00%
Taichung County Constituency 5 Yang Chiung-ying 57.68%
Taichung City Constituency 1 Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) 61.29%
Taichung City Constituency 2 Lu Shiow-yen 57.08%
Taichung City Constituency 3 Daniel Huang (黃義交) 54.91%
Changhua County Constituency 1 Chen Hsiu-ching 44.96%
Changhua County Constituency 2 Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) 60.02%
Changhua County Constituency 3 Cheng Ru-fen (鄭汝芬) 45.33%
Changhua County Constituency 4 Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) 41.26%
Nantou County Constituency 1 Wu Den-yih 67.12%
Nantou County Constituency 2 Lin Ming-chen 57.93%
Yunlin County Constituency 1 Chiang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) 56.24%
Yunlin County Constituency 2 Chang Sho-wen 49.11%
Chiayi County Constituency 1 Wong Chung-chun 57.47%
Chiayi County Constituency 2 Helen Chang 57.05%
Chiayi City Chiang Yi-hsiung (江義雄) 46.70%
Tainan County Constituency 1 Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) 54.57%
Tainan County Constituency 2 Huang Wei-cher 59.16%
Tainan County Constituency 3 Lee Chun-yee 52.66%
Tainan City Constituency 1 Chen Ting-fei 50.27%
Tainan City Constituency 2 William Lai 51.64%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 1 Chung Shao-ho 53.55%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 2 Lin Yi-shih 55.27%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 3 Chen Chi-yu (陳啟昱) 45.13%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 4 Chiang Ling-chun (江玲君) 50.22%
Pingtung County Constituency 1 Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) 46.90%
Pingtung County Constituency 2 Wang Chin-shih (王進士) 56.82%
Pingtung County Constituency 3 Pan Men-an 51.30%
Hualien County Fu Kun-chi 66.39%
Taitung County Justin Huang 61.09%
Penghu County Lin Pin-kuan 50.71%
Kinmen County Chen Fu-hai 37.31%
Lienchiang County Tsao Erh-chung 49.72%
Lowland Aborigine

Liao Kuo-tung ( Kuomintang)
Yang Jen-fu ( Kuomintang)
Lin Cheng-er (林正二) ( People First Party)

Highland Aborigine

Chien Tung-ming ( Kuomintang)
Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) ( Kuomintang)
Kao Chin Su-mei ( Non-Partisan Solidarity Union )

  • Notes:
  1. Candidates marked are People First Party candidates running under the KMT party banner.
  2. Candidates marked are New Party candidates who joined the Kuomintang with New Party endorsement.
  3. Most names on the list follow the Tongyong Pinyin romanization used in the Central Election Committee website and may not accurately reflect the candidates' preferred romanization of their name.

Legislators elected through proportional representation and overseas Chinese ballots

No.PartyElected∕CandidatesCandidate List
1Civil Party0/4
  1. Lei Ciao Yun (雷僑雲)
  2. Cian Han Cing (錢漢清)
  3. Chen Hua Zu (陳華足)
  4. Kong Ren Yi (孔仁奕)
2 Taiwan Constitution Association0/3
  1. Wu Ying Siang (吳景祥)
  2. Huang Sin Jhu (黃馨主)
  3. Huang Cian Ming (黃千明)
3 Taiwan Solidarity Union0/15
  1. Chen Yung-hsing
  2. Chen Yu Fong (陳玉峯)
  3. Lai Shin-yuan
  4. Yi Chao Sian (施朝賢)
  5. Chien Lin Hui-chun (錢林慧君)
  6. Jiang Wei Jyun (江偉君)
  7. Huang Kun-huei
  8. Lo Chih-ming
  9. Li Yi Jie (李宜潔)
  10. Fan Sheng Bao (范盛保)
  11. Jhang Jin Sheng (張金生)
  12. Fu Sin Yi (傅馨儀)
  13. Huang Jhao Jhan (黃昭展)
  14. Ye Jin Ling (葉津鈴)
  15. Annie Lee (李安妮)
4Third Society Party0/5
  1. Lyu Siou Jyu (呂秀菊)
  2. Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中)
  3. Lin Jhih Jhen (林致真)
  4. Yang Jing Hua (楊靜華)
  5. Lin Jhih Cheng (林志成)
5Democratic Progressive Party14/33
  1. Chen Chieh-ju
  2. Tsai Huang-liang
  3. Twu Shiing-jer
  4. Chiu Yi-ying
  5. Ker Chien-ming
  6. Huang Sue-ying
  7. Wang Sing-nan
  8. Hsueh Ling
  9. Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬)
  10. Chen Ying (陳瑩)
  11. Yu Jane-daw (余政道)
  12. Wong Chin-chu
  13. Chai Trong-rong
  14. Tien Chiu-chin
  15. Hung Chi-chang
  16. Chang Fu-mei
  17. Michael You (游盈隆)
  18. Hsu Jung-shu
  19. Yu Shyi-kun
  20. Yang Fang-wan
  21. Chou Ching-yu
  22. Chen Mao-nan
  23. Wu Ming-ming
  24. Chang Hsiu-chen (張秀珍)
  25. Fan Sun-lu
  26. Wang To-far
  27. Chang Ching-hui
  28. Jhou Guang Jhou (周光宙)
  29. Liou Mei De (劉美德)
  30. Shih Yi-fang
  31. Li Yi Jing You Ma (麗依京·尤瑪)
  32. Liang Jhen Siang (梁禎祥)
  33. Chen Huei Ling (陳慧玲)
6 New Party0/10
  1. Chou Yang-shan
  2. Joanna Lei
  3. Gao Jia Jyun (高家俊)
  4. Lin Mei Lun (林美倫)
  5. Syu Zong Mao (徐宗懋)
  6. Guo Jia Fen (郭家芬)
  7. Ge Jian Pu (葛建埔)
  8. Sun Ji Jhen (孫吉珍)
  9. Lee Sheng-feng
  10. Yok Mu-ming
7 Green Party Taiwan0/4
  1. Mary Chen
  2. Jhang Huei Shan (張輝山)
  3. Jhang Hong Lin (張宏林)
  4. Wang Fang Ping (王芳萍)
8Taiwan Farmers' Party0/8
  1. Cian Siao Fong (錢小鳳)
  2. Ke Jyun Syong (柯俊雄)
  3. Ma Guo Cing (馬國清)
  4. Chen Shen Hong (陳信宏)
  5. Fan Jiang Siou Jhen (范姜秀珍)
  6. Chen Chong Guang (陳重光)
  7. Hong Mei Jhen (洪美珍)
  8. Jhang Wun Jheng (張文正)
9 Non-Partisan Solidarity Union 0/2
  1. Christina Liu
  2. Chen Chieh-ju
10 Kuomintang20/34
  1. Wang Jin-pyng
  2. Hung Hsiu-chu
  3. Tseng Yung-chuan
  4. Tina Pan
  5. Chiu Yi
  6. Cheng Chin-ling (鄭金玲)
  7. Chen Chieh (陳杰)
  8. Lee Chi-chu
  9. Chang Hsien-yao
  10. Nancy Chao (趙麗雲)
  11. Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進)
  12. Liao Wan-ju (廖婉汝)
  13. Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟)
  14. Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾)
  15. Mark Li
  16. Kuo Su-chun (郭素春)
  17. Liu Shen-liang
  18. Cheng Li-wen
  19. Shuai Hua-min (帥化民)
  20. Syu Shao Ping (徐少萍)
  21. Syu Shu Bo (許舒博)
  22. Chen Shu Huei (陳淑慧)
  23. Li Cyuan Jiao (李全教)
  24. Syu Yu Jhen (許宇甄)
  25. Huang Liang Hua (黃良華)
  26. Yang Yu Jhen (楊玉珍)
  27. Lin Jheng Fong (林正峰)
  28. Hua Jhen (華真)
  29. Yao Jiang Lin (姚江臨)
  30. Ciou Mei Ruei (邱美瑞)^
  31. Jiang Ci Wun (江綺雯)
  32. Lyu Chun Lin (呂春霖)
  33. Ciou Run Rong (邱潤容)
  34. Sie Kun Hong (謝坤宏)
11 Home Party0/7
  1. Yang Yu Sin (楊玉欣)
  2. Yao Li Ming (姚立明)
  3. Chen Yao Chang (陳耀昌)
  4. Hu De Fu (胡德夫)
  5. Huang Huei Jyun (黃惠君)
  6. Zong Ying Yi (宗景宜)
  7. Wei Yao-chien
12 Hakka Party0/3
  1. Song Chu Yu (宋楚瑜)
  2. Jhong Deng Ting (鍾棖婷)
  3. Peng Yun Huang (彭雲煌)
  • Notes:
  1. Candidates marked with a ^ are overseas Chinese candidates.
  2. Elected candidates are marked with a next to their name.
  3. Candidates with are People First Party candidates running on a joint ticket with the Kuomintang[5]
  4. Green Party Taiwan candidate Wang Fang Ping is endorsed by the coalition Raging Citizens Act Now! (人民火大行動聯盟)[6]
  5. Most names on the list follow the Tongyong Pinyin romanization used in the Central Election Committee website and may not accurately reflect the candidates' preferred romanization of their name.

Legislators elected through subsequent by-elections

Date Constituency Outgoing member Incoming member
14 March 2009 Miaoli 1 Li Yi-ting Kang Shih-ju
28 March 2009 Taipei City 6 Diane Lee Chiang Nai-shin
26 September 2009 Yunlin 2 Chang Sho-wen Liu Chien-kuo
5 December 2009 Nantou 1 Wu Den-yih Ma Wen-chun
9 January 2010 Taichung County 3 Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) Tony Jian
9 January 2010 Taitung Justin Huang Lie Kuen-cheng (賴坤成)
9 January 2010 Taoyuan 2 Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) Kuo June-tsung (郭榮宗)
27 February 2010 Chiayi County 2 Helen Chang Chen Ming-wen
27 February 2010 Taoyuan 3 John Wu Huang Jen-shu (黃仁杼)
27 February 2010 Hsinchu County Chiu Ching-chun Perng Shaw-jiin
27 February 2010 Hualien Fu Kun-chi 王廷升
5 March 2011 Kaohsiung 4

(Kaohsiung County 3 in 2008)

Chen Chi-yu (陳啟昱) Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺)
5 March 2011 Tainan 4 (Tainan City 2 in 2008) William Lai Hsu Tain-tsair

Impact

With this election the KMT and the Pan-Blue Coalition have more than the two-thirds majority needed to propose a recall election of the President and if NPSU votes are counted with the pan-Blue coalition, more than the three-quarters majority needed to propose constitutional amendments.

Reaction from the government of China

The government of China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, remained largely silent on the election result. State media carried brief updates of results and passed no comment on either the referendum or the Kuomintang victory.[7]

The government of China appointed 13 representatives for Taiwan to its own National People's Congress on the same day. These delegates are mostly descendants of Taiwanese who emigrated to the Mainland, or Communist supporters who fled Taiwan. Their positions are ceremonial as the PRC do not exercise effective jurisdiction over Taiwan.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. District and aboriginal electorate; party-list electorate size was 17,288,551
  2. District and aboriginal electorate; party-list voter turnout was 58.28%
  3. Party-list election
  4. District and aboriginal
  5. District and aboriginal

References

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