The 2001 Kuomintang chairmanship election (Chinese: 2001年中國國民黨主席選舉) was held on 24 March 2001 in Taiwan. This was the first direct party leadership election in Kuomintang history in which all registered, due-paying party members were eligible to vote. In previous elections, only 2,000 high-ranking members could cast votes.
Lee Teng-hui had assumed the presidency and Kuomintang chairmanship in 1988, after the death of Chiang Ching-kuo. With the help of Lien Chan, Lee had withstood a challenge to his leadership in 1997, shortly after the Kuomintang lost that year's local elections handily.[1] In 2000, the Kuomintang lost the presidential election to Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian, and discontent over Lee's leadership had again broken out.[2][3] He planned to resign the chairmanship in September,[4] but eventually submitted his resignation on 24 March,[5] after days of speculation and protest.[6]Lien Chan succeeded Lee as chairman in June.[7] The first direct leadership election was scheduled for 24 March 2001. In previous elections, only 2,000 party representatives could vote for the office.[8]
Lien Chan registered for the election on 9 February 2001,[9] and ran unopposed, as Tuan Hung-chun was declared ineligible.[7] Lien was required to gather a petition of three percent of the party membership to validate his candidacy.[7] He garnered 521,712 of 537,370 votes in the election itself, at a time when the Kuomintang had an eligible voter count of 928,175.[10] Lien won 97.09% of all votes cast, a record that would stand until 2015, when Eric Chu was elected.[11]
