Taiwan presidential election, 2012

Republic of China presidential election, 2012

14 January 2012

Turnout 74.38%   Candidate Ma Ying-jeou Tsai Ing-wen James Soong Party Kuomintang Democratic Progressive People First Party (Taiwan) Alliance Pan-Blue Pan-Green Pan-Blue Running mate Wu Den-yih Su Jia-chyuan Lin Ruey-shiung Popular vote 6,891,139[1] 6,093,578[1] 369,588[1] Percentage 51.60% 45.63% 2.77%

Leaders in township-level units:   Ma-Wu Ticket   Tsai-Su Ticket

President before election Ma Ying-jeou Kuomintang Elected President Ma Ying-jeou Kuomintang

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The election for the 13th-term President and Vice-President of the Republic of China was held in Taiwan on 14 January 2012.^[2] The election was held concurrently with legislative elections. It was the fifth direct election for the President of Taiwan. Prior to 1996, the President was elected by the ROC's National Assembly and not directly by the people.

Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected as President with 51.6% of the vote. DPP challenger Tsai Ing-wen resigned her post as chairperson of the DPP following her election defeat.^[3]

Background

The Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) ticket won a landslide victory in 2008 over the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party, with a 2.2 million vote margin on 58% of the valid votes.^[4]

The administration of Ma Ying-jeou has been more friendly in policy towards the People's Republic of China and also signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a preferential trade agreement between the governments of China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC).

The Democratic Progressive Party was hit hard with former president Chen Shui-bian's corruption revelations, but new chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen rebuilt the party, leading to a series of victories in legislative by-elections and local elections.

One big election topic appears to be the "1992 consensus", a term describing the declared outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC). The KMT agrees that this consensus should be the basis for negotiations with the PRC and supports it during the election,^[5] while the DPP believes that no such consensus was reached^[6] and that as a policy it is equivalent to the One-China principle, which the DPP opposes. Instead, the DPP has advocated that a "Taiwan consensus" be produced in a democratic way, by the legislature and a referendum of the people of Taiwan.^[6][7]

Candidates

As determined by a random draw, the DPP's Tsai-Su ticket was listed first on Election Day ballots; the incumbent KMT's Ma-Wu ticket was listed second; and the People First Party (PFP)'s Soong-Lin ticket, third.^[8]

Democratic Progressive Party

Incumbent chairperson Tsai Ing-wen was the DPP nominee. She was designated the party’s candidate in April 2011 following a primary by opinion polls. Candidates for the DPP primary were Tsai, former premier Su Tseng-chang and former chairman Hsu Hsin-liang. Former Vice President Annette Lu Hsiu-lien announced her intention to run but withdrew. On 9 September 2012 candidate Tsai chose DPP secretary-general Su Jia-chyuan as her running mate.^[9]

Kuomintang

Ma Ying-jeou and Wu Den-yih election rally in Banqiao District, New Taipei.

Incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou was standing for re-election.^[10] There were no challengers within the party, so no primary was necessary.

Vice President Vincent Siew chose not to run for a second term, and on 19 June 2011 President Ma selected Premier Wu Den-yih as his running mate.^[11]

Ma's campaign was run by King Pu-tsung, a former party Secretary-General.

People First Party

PFP chairman James Soong Chu-yu launched the party's first-ever Presidential bid on 20 September 2011. Soong had stated, however, that his candidacy is contingent on the success of a nationwide million signature drive. He has vowed to run and keep his candidacy active through the election if his campaign garners one million signatures throughout Taiwan.^[12]

Soong chose National Taiwan University professor emeritus Lin Ruey-shiung, a career scientist and academic with no political experience, to be his running mate.

Soong contended that the Taiwanese people desire a third choice outside the two main parties (KMT and DPP), despite concerns that his decision may split the Pan-Blue coalition vote to hand victory to the Pan-Green candidate as may have happened in the 2000 Presidential election.^[13][14]

Polls

2012 ROC presidential candidates debate.

After initially trailing, Ma started to pick up the lead, without Soong as a candidate, after September, 2011 in most opinion polls. However, Tsai benefited from the debates in the later stages.

Result

Voting took place between 8:00 and 16:00 local time at 14,806 polling stations.^[15] After Ma's re-election,^[16] he announced that his victory had vindicated his policies in regards to cross-strait relations.^[17] Tsai conceded the election and resigned from her position as head of the DPP.^[18] Turnout was reported to be over 74%.^[19]

Ma Ying-jeou and Wu Den-yih were inaugurated as the President and Vice President of Taiwan respectively at the Presidential Office Building on 20 May 2012.^[20]

 Summary of the 2012 Taiwanese presidential election results

Party		Candidate		Votes	Percentage
		President	Vice president
	Kuomintang	Ma Ying-jeou	Wu Den-yih	6,891,139	51.60%
	Democratic Progressive Party	Tsai Ing-Wen	Su Chia-chyuan	6,093,578	45.63%
	People First Party	James Soong	Lin Ruey-shiung	369,588	2.77%
Total				13,354,305	100%

Reactions

•  PRC – The State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office stated Ma's reelection proved the developments in cross-strait relations during his term is "the correct path that has won the support of the majority of the Taiwanese compatriots."^[21]
•  Hong Kong – Chief Executive candidate Henry Tang said the result reflects that Taiwanese people approve Ma's cross-strait policies, and expressed his wishes for peaceful and stable situation for economic development.^[22]
•  Singapore – Even before the confirmation of the result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement congratulating Ma^[23] saying: "Singapore and Taiwan enjoy a close and friendly relationship which goes back many years [and that] they will continue to strengthen this relationship based on Singapore's "One China" policy." It added by wishing "all the parties success in working towards greater peace and prosperity, [sic] and securing the well-being of the future generations."
•  United States – The White House issued a statement congratulating Ma and added it congratulates "the people of Taiwan on the successful conduct of their presidential and legislative elections;" also adding: "We hope the impressive efforts that both sides have undertaken in recent years to build cross-strait ties continue."^[17]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Taiwan presidential election, 2012.

• Elections in Taiwan

References

External links

• 2012 Presidential Election Press Kit, Government Information Office, Executive Yuan

Candidates

Interviews

• "Interview With Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou" New York Times. 5 January 2012
• "Interview With Tsai Ing-wen" New York Times. 5 January 2012

Information

• Ma Ying-jeou
• Tsai Ing-wen
• Su Tseng-chang
• Annette Lu Hsiu-lien

Elections and referendums in Taiwan
Presidential elections	1954 1960 1966 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
National Assembly elections	1969 1972 1980 1986 1991 1996 2005
Legislative elections	1969 1972 1975 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2008 2012 2016
Municipal and provincial elections	1936 1940 1946 1951 1954 1957 1960 1963 1968 1969 1972 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Local elections	1935 1939 1950 1954 1957 1960 1964 1968 1972 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2014 2018
Referendums	2004 Jan 2008 Mar 2008
See also: Elections in the Republic of China (1912–49)