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2008 Taiwanese legislative election

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2008 Taiwanese legislative election
← 2004 12 January 2008 (2008-01-12)[1] 2012 →
All 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan
57 seats needed for a majority
Registered17,179,656[a]
Turnout58.50% (Decrease 0.85pp)[b]
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Wu Po-hsiung Chen Shui-bian
Party Kuomintang DPP
Alliance Pan-Blue Pan-Green
Last election 79 seats 89 seats
Seats won 81 27
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 62
Constituency vote 5,291,512
53.50% 		3,775,352
38.17%
Party vote 5,010,801
51.23% 		3,610,106
36.91%
Constituency vote 239,317
2.42% 		28,254
0.29%
Party vote 68,527
0.70% 		Did not stand
Vote share by constituencies
Election cartogram

Legislative elections were held in Taiwan on 12 January 2008 to elect the 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.

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

[edit]

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 (not compensating for disproportionality in single-member districts), 34 seats 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]

Jurisdiction Seats Jurisdiction Seats Jurisdiction Seats
Taipei City 8 Taichung City 3 Kaohsiung County 4
Kaohsiung City 5 Changhua County 4 Pingtung County 3
Taipei County 12 Yunlin County 2 Yilan County 1
Keelung City 1 Nantou County 2 Hualien County 1
Taoyuan County 6 Chiayi County 2 Taitung County 1
Hsinchu City 1 Chiayi City 1 Penghu County 1
Hsinchu County 1 Tainan County 3 Kinmen County 1
Miaoli County 2 Tainan City 2 Lienchiang County 1
Taichung County 5

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

[edit]

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.[citation needed] 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

[edit]
PartyParty-listConstituency/AboriginalTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
Kuomintang[i][ii]5,010,80151.23205,291,51253.506181
Democratic Progressive Party3,610,10636.91143,775,35238.171327
New Party[ii]386,6603.9500
Taiwan Solidarity Union344,8873.53093,8400.9500
Home Party77,8700.8006,3550.0600
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union68,5270.700239,3172.4233
Green Party Taiwan58,4730.60014,7670.1500
Taiwan Farmers' Party57,1440.5808,6810.0900
Civil Party48,1920.4906,5620.0700
Third Society Party45,5940.47010,0570.1000
Hakka Party42,0040.4308,8600.0900
Taiwan Constitution Association30,3150.3103,9260.0400
People First Party[i]28,2540.2911
Democratic Liberal Party5,0940.0500
Great Mercy and Charity Party3,7830.0400
Hongyun Loyalty Party5810.0100
World Peace Party4890.0000
Independents[iii]393,3463.9811
Total9,780,573100.00349,890,776100.0079113
Valid votes9,780,57397.079,890,77698.41
Invalid/blank votes295,6662.93159,8431.59
Total votes10,076,239100.0010,050,619100.00
Registered voters/turnout17,288,55158.2817,179,65658.50
Source: Election Study Center, CEC
  1. ^ a b 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.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ Chen Fu-hai of Kinmen, the lone independent elected in this election, is a former KMT member and endorsed the KMT presidential campaign. Hence the strength of the Pan-Blue coalition is taken as 86.

Legislators elected through constituency and aborigine ballots

[edit]
Main article: List of candidates in the 2008 Taiwanese legislative election
  Kuomintang
  Democratic Progressive Party
  Non-Partisan Solidarity Union
  Independent
Constituency Elected candidate(s) Popular vote
Taipei City Constituency 1 Ting Shou-chung [zh] 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 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 [zh] 49.13%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 4 Lee Fu-hsing 51.32%
Kaohsiung City Constituency 5 Kuo Wen-chen [zh] 46.01%
Taipei County Constituency 1 Wu Yu-sheng [zh] 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 People First Party 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 People First Party 55.82%
Taipei County Constituency 8 Chang Ching-chung 59.55%
Taipei County Constituency 9 Lin Te-fu 69.61%
Taipei County Constituency 10 Lu Chia-chen 60.10%
Taipei County Constituency 11 Lo Ming-tsai 69.69%
Taipei County Constituency 12 Lee Ching-hua 51.96%
Keelung City Hsieh Kuo-liang 67.79%
Yilan County Lin Chien-jung [zh] 53.12%
Taoyuan County Constituency 1 Chen Ken-te [zh] 61.76%
Taoyuan County Constituency 2 Liao Cheng-ching [zh] 54.57%
Taoyuan County Constituency 3 John Wu 63.22%
Taoyuan County Constituency 4 Yang Li-huan [zh] 62.42%
Taoyuan County Constituency 5 Chu Fong-chi 63.76%
Taoyuan County Constituency 6 Sun Ta-chien [zh] 65.02%
Hsinchu County Chiu Ching-chun 66.52%
Hsinchu City Lu Hsueh-chang [zh] 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 [zh] 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 [zh] 61.29%
Taichung City Constituency 2 Lu Shiow-yen 57.08%
Taichung City Constituency 3 Daniel Huang People First Party 54.91%
Changhua County Constituency 1 Chen Hsiu-ching 44.96%
Changhua County Constituency 2 Lin Tsang-min [zh] 60.02%
Changhua County Constituency 3 Cheng Ru-fen [zh] 45.33%
Changhua County Constituency 4 Hsiao Ching-tien [zh] 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 [zh] 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 [zh] 46.70%
Tainan County Constituency 1 Yeh Yi-jin [zh] 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 People First Party 53.55%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 2 Lin Yi-shih 55.27%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 3 Chen Chi-yu [zh] 45.13%
Kaohsiung County Constituency 4 Chiang Ling-chun [zh] 50.22%
Pingtung County Constituency 1 Su Chen-ching [zh] 46.90%
Pingtung County Constituency 2 Wang Chin-shih [zh] 56.82%
Pingtung County Constituency 3 Pan Men-an 51.30%
Hualien County Fu Kun-chi People First Party 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 People First Party 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

[edit]
No. Party Elected/Candidates Candidate List
1 Civil Party 0/4
  1. Lei Chiao-yun [zh]
  2. Chien Han-ching [zh]
  3. Chen Hua Zu [zh]
  4. Kong Jen-yi [zh]
2 Taiwan Constitution Association 0/3
  1. Wu Ying-hsiang [zh]
  2. Huang Sin Jhu [zh]
  3. Huang Chien-ming [zh]
3 Taiwan Solidarity Union 0/15
  1. Chen Yung-hsing
  2. Chen Yu-feng [zh]
  3. Lai Shin-yuan
  4. Shih Chao-hsien [zh]
  5. Chien Lin Hui-chun [zh]
  6. Chiang Wei-chun [zh]
  7. Huang Kun-huei
  8. Lo Chih-ming
  9. Lee Yi-chieh [zh]
  10. Fan Sheng-bao [zh]
  11. Chang Chin-sheng [zh]
  12. Fu Hsin-yi [zh]
  13. Huang Chao-chan [zh]
  14. Yeh Chin-ling [zh]
  15. Annie Lee [zh]
4 Third Society Party 0/5
  1. Lu Hsiu-chu [zh]
  2. Yang Wei-chung [zh]
  3. Lin Chih-chen [zh]
  4. Yang Ching-hua [zh]
  5. Lin Chih-cheng [zh]
5 Democratic Progressive Party 14/33
  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 [zh]
  10. Chen Ying
  11. Yu Jane-daw [zh]
  12. Wong Chin-chu
  13. Chai Trong-rong
  14. Tien Chiu-chin
  15. Hung Chi-chang
  16. Chang Fu-mei
  17. Michael You [zh]
  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 Shiow-jen
  25. Fan Sun-lu
  26. Wang To-far
  27. Chang Ching-hui
  28. Chou Kuang-chou [zh]
  29. Liu Mei-te [zh]
  30. Shih Yi-fang
  31. Li Yi Jing You Ma [zh]
  32. Liang Chen-hsiang [zh]
  33. Chen Hui-ling [zh]
6 New Party 0/10
  1. Chou Yang-shan
  2. Joanna Lei
  3. Kao Chia-chun [zh]
  4. Lin Mei-lun [zh]
  5. Hsu Tsung-mao [zh]
  6. Kuo Chia-fen [zh]
  7. Ke Chien-pu [zh]
  8. Sun Chi-chen [zh]
  9. Lee Sheng-feng
  10. Yok Mu-ming
7 Green Party Taiwan 0/4
  1. Mary Chen
  2. Chang Hui-shan [zh]
  3. Chang Hung-lin [zh]
  4. Wang Fang-ping [zh]
8 Taiwan Farmers' Party 0/8
  1. Chien Hsiao-feng [zh]
  2. Ke Chun-hsiung [zh]
  3. Ma Kuo-ching [zh]
  4. Chen Hsin-hung [zh]
  5. Fan Chiang Hsiu-chen [zh]
  6. Chen Chung-kuang [zh]
  7. Hung Mei-chen [zh]
  8. Chang Wen-cheng [zh]
9 Non-Partisan Solidarity Union 0/2
  1. Christina Liu
  2. Chen Chieh-ju
10 Kuomintang 20/34
  1. Wang Jin-pyng
  2. Hung Hsiu-chu
  3. Tseng Yung-chuan
  4. Tina Pan
  5. Chiu Yi
  6. Cheng Chin-ling [zh] People First Party
  7. Chen Chieh [zh]
  8. Lee Jih-chu
  9. Chang Hsien-yao
  10. Nancy Chao [zh]
  11. Lee Chia-chin [zh]
  12. Liao Wan-ju [zh]
  13. Chi Kuo-tung [zh]
  14. Lo Shu-lei People First Party
  15. Mark Li
  16. Kuo Su-chun [zh]
  17. Liu Shen-liang
  18. Cheng Li-wen
  19. Shuai Hua-min [zh]
  20. Hsu Shao-ping [zh]
  21. Hsu Shu-po [zh]
  22. Chen Shu-hui
  23. Lee Chuan-chiao [zh]
  24. Hsu Yu-chen [zh]
  25. Huang Liang-hua [zh]
  26. Yang Yu-chen [zh]
  27. Lin Cheng-feng
  28. Hua Chen [zh]
  29. Yao Chiang-lin [zh]
  30. Chiu Mei-jui [zh] People First Party
  31. Chiang Chi-wun [zh]
  32. Lu Chun-lin [zh]
  33. Chiu Jun-jung [zh]
  34. Hsieh Kun-hung [zh]
11 Home Party 0/7
  1. Yang Yu-hsin [zh]
  2. Yao Li-ming
  3. Chen Yao-chang [zh]
  4. Hu Te-fu [zh]
  5. Huang Hui-chun [zh]
  6. Tsung Ying-yi [zh]
  7. Wei Yao-chien
12 Hakka Party 0/3
  1. Sung Chu-yu [zh]
  2. Chung Deng-ting [zh]
  3. Peng Yun-huang [zh]
  • Notes:
  1. Candidates marked with a ^ are overseas Chinese candidates.
  2. Elected candidates are marked with a next to their name.
  3. Candidates with People First Party 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! [zh][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

[edit]
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 People First Party 王廷升
5 March 2011 Kaohsiung 4

(Kaohsiung County 3 in 2008)

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

Impact

[edit]

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 People's Republic of China

[edit]

The government of People's Republic 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

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  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%

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "中選會資料庫網站". cec.gov.tw (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 30 May 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  2. ^ Central Election Commission[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ January 31, 2007.CEC Completes Legislative Constituency Redistricting Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine. Taiwan Headlines. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
  4. ^ "中時電子報｜最新焦點". Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  5. ^ 謝自宗 (2007-11-20). "吳伯雄接待親民黨張顯耀等不分區立委候選人". (Independence Evening Post). Archived from the original on 2007-12-11.
  6. ^ 人民火大行動聯盟 - 不分區立委候選人 王芳萍簡介 : Archived 2008-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ 新华网专题报道
  8. ^ "China 'elects' 13 of its own representatives for Taiwan - The China Post". Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
[edit]
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