1997–98 Taiwanese local elections

Last updated
1997–98 Taiwanese local elections
Flag of the Republic of China.svg
  1994 29 November 1997 (1997-11-29)
5 December 1998 (1998-12-05)
2001–02  

All 25 mayors/magistrates of special municipalities, cities, counties
 First partySecond party
 
Leader Lin Yi-hsiung Lee Teng-hui
Party DPP Kuomintang
Leader since18 July 199827 January 1988
Mayors/
Magistrates
139
ChangeIncrease2.svg6Decrease2.svg7

Local elections of Taiwan were held in 1997 and 1998 to elect magistrates of counties and mayors of cities on 29 November 1997, and mayors and councillors of special municipalities on 5 December 1998.

Contents

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won in the 1997 election, controlling majority of mayors/magistrates across the country and winning more popular votes than the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) for the first time. [1] While the two polls were seen as confidence votes of President Lee Teng-hui, they marked the beginning of the historic peaceful transition of power which would occur in 2000.

Counties and cities

Election results for counties and cities 1997 Republic of China Magistrate & Mayoral Elections.svg
Election results for counties and cities

The DPP successfully flipped seven counties and cities, Keelung City, Hsinchu City, Taichung City, Taichung County, Tainan City, Taoyuan County, and Pingtung County, but were defeated by the Kuomintang in Penghu County. [2] In Nantou County, the Kuomintang was defeated by an independent candidate.

Turnout of the election is 65.92%, with 7,784,908 voting out of 11,809,277 registered electorates.

Magistrate of Taipei
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Su Tseng-chang 571,65840.67%
Kuomintang Hsieh Shen-shan 543,51638.67%
Independent Lin Chih-chia154,59011.00%
Independent Liao Hsueh-kuang70,6195.02%
New Yang Tai-shun32,9022.34%
Independent Stella Chou 32,3732.30%
Mayor of Keelung City
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Lee Chin-yung 73,39842.75%
Kuomintang Liu Wen-hsiung 65,17637.97%
Independent Hsu Tsai-li 33,09919.28%
Magistrate of Yilan County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Liu Shou-cheng 122,11453.83%
Kuomintang Liao Feng-teh 104,74446.17%
Magistrate of Taoyuan County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Annette Lu 375,50056.20%
Kuomintang Chen Ken-te286,99342.96%
Social Reform PartyHsu Lien-te5,6190.84%
Magistrate of Hsinchu County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Lin Kuang-hua 70,87936.12%
Kuomintang Cheng Yung-chin 64,55132.89%
Independent Chiu Ching-chun 59,39330.26%
Independent Hsu Neng-an1,4240.73%
Mayor of Hsinchu City
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP James Tsai 81,32856.11%
Kuomintang Lin Chih-cheng62,01742.79%
Independent Wang Shao-chuan1,5931.10%
Magistrate of Miaoli County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Independent Fu Hsueh-peng 153,52854.80%
Kuomintang Ho Chih-hui99,10935.37%
New Huang Ta-yeh15,8715.66%
DPP Hsu Chin-jung11,6784.17%
Magistrate of Taichung County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Liao Yung-lai 223,22237.60%
Kuomintang Kuo Jung-cheng 173,66729.26%
Kuomintang Shyu Jong-shyong 144,42724.33%
Independent Liu Chuan-chung 35,5335.99%
Independent Chen Chin-lung10,8041.82%
Independence Chien Wen-nan5,9501.00%
Mayor of Taichung City
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Chang Wen-ying 179,46149.57%
Kuomintang Hung Chao-nan149,43841.28%
New Sung Ai-ke26,5157.32%
Independence Cheng Pang-chen6,6221.83%
Magistrate of Changhua County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Kuomintang Juan Kang-meng290,33549.56%
DPP Wong Chin-chu 285,05848.66%
Independent Chang Jung-chang10,4431.78%
Magistrate of Nantou County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Independent Peng Pai-hsien 78,69031.61%
DPP Lin Tsung-nan 76,68930.80%
Kuomintang Hsu Hui-yu74,96630.11%
New Chen Cheng-sheng 18,0667.26%
Independent Wu Ching-chiang5590.22%
Magistrate of Yunlin County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Kuomintang Su Wen-hsiung125,37634.93%
Independent Chang Jung-wei122,16634.04%
DPP Liao Ta-lin104,49929.11%
Independent Ou Ming-shien6,8821.92%
Magistrate of Chiayi County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Kuomintang Lee Ya-ching136,16153.26%
DPP Ho Chia-jong119,49946.74%
Mayor of Chiayi City
PartyCandidateVotes%
Independent Chang Po-ya 58,54450.23%
Kuomintang Chiang Yi-hsiung49,55142.52%
DPP Tsai Hung-chang6,3505.45%
Independence Tsang Ting-sheng2,1031.80%
Magistrate of Tainan County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Mark Chen 328,64165.73%
Kuomintang Hung Yu-chin171,35734.27%
Mayor of Tainan City
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP George Chang 116,14535.75%
Kuomintang Lin Nan-sheng68,12420.97%
Independent Hsu Tain-tsair 64,22819.77%
Kuomintang Chen Jung-cheng57,85417.81%
Independent Lin Shou-hung9,0972.80%
New Kao Chia-chun4,7371.46%
Independent Fang Chin-hai4,6991.45%
Magistrate of Kaohsiung County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Yu Cheng-hsien 271,98951.74%
Kuomintang Huang Hung-tu234,96044.69%
Independent Cheng Te-hui10,5752.01%
Independent Lin Ching-yuan8,2011.56%
Magistrate of Pingtung County
PartyCandidateVotes%
DPP Su Jia-chyuan 227,50655.42%
Kuomintang Tseng Yung-chuan170,15441.45%
Independent Lee Ching-wen12,8673.13%
Magistrate of Taitung County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Kuomintang Chen Chien-nien 48,36547.64%
Independent Hsu Ching-yuan 47,34046.63%
DPP Huang Chao-hui 5,8185.73%
Magistrate of Hualien County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Kuomintang Wang Ching-feng 72,45656.76%
DPP You Ying-lung55,19443.24%
Magistrate of Penghu County
PartyCandidateVotes%
Kuomintang Lai Feng-wei 20,94657.53%
DPP Hsu Pi-long15,19442.47%

Special municipalities

Election results for special municipalities 1998 Republic of China Mayoral Elections.svg
Election results for special municipalities

Elections for mayors and councillors of special municipalities Taipei and Kaohsiung were held on 5 December 1998. The nail-biting election resulted in both incumbents defeated with a narrow margin, including an unexpected victory for the DPP in Kaohsiung.

Taipei

Taipei mayoral election result by districts
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Districts led by Ma Ying-jeou
Districts led by Chen Shui-bian 1998 ROC-Taipei.png
Taipei mayoral election result by districts
  Districts led by Ma Ying-jeou
  Districts led by Chen Shui-bian

Chen Shui-bian of the DPP seek a second four-year term with a high popularity of 80%, while the KMT nominated Ma Ying-jeou, ex-Minister of Justice who earlier declined to run in the mayoral election. Ma eventually beat Chen by around 0.6% of votes. Analysts believed tactical voting by supporters of New Party contributed to the KMT's win, [3] in addition to the discontent with Chen's aggressive policies.

1998 Taipei mayoral election
CandidatePartyVotes%
Ma Ying-jeou Kuomintang 766,37751.13
Chen Shui-bian Democratic Progressive Party 688,07245.91
Wang Chien-shien New Party 44,4522.97
Total1,498,901100.00
Valid votes1,498,90199.16
Invalid/blank votes12,7340.84
Total votes1,511,635100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,868,86080.89
1998 Taipei City Council election
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Kuomintang 589,90740.0823+3
Democratic Progressive Party 455,61330.9619+4
New Party 273,19518.569-2
New Nation Alliance27,2821.850
Green Party Taiwan 22,2741.510
Taiwan Independence Party 9,6330.650
Chinese Woman's Party9230.060
Independents92,9666.321-5
Total1,471,793100.0052
Valid votes1,471,79397.61
Invalid/blank votes36,0512.39
Total votes1,507,844100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,864,31480.88

Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung mayoral election result by districts
Districts led by Wu Den-yih
Districts led by Frank Hsieh 1998 Kaohsiung Mayoral Election.png
Kaohsiung mayoral election result by districts
  Districts led by Wu Den-yih
  Districts led by Frank Hsieh

Following the defeat in vice-presidential election, Frank Hsieh of the DPP started considering running in Kaohsiung mayoral election. In 1997, Chen Che-nan, Hsieh's party colleague decided not to run against Hsieh in the party primary for the Kaohsiung poll, reportedly after an intervention by Taipei Mayor Chen who later promoted him as secretary-general of Taipei Government. [4]

On the other hand, incumbent Wu Den-yih from the KMT faced small-scale rebellion from local party branch after former Kaohsiung mayor Wang Yu-yun criticised Wu for being ungrateful. [5] In the run-up of the election, an ex-secretary of Wu published a recording tape, claiming Wu had an affairs with a reporter. Despite found to be fake after the election, the incident nevertheless damaged Wu's popularity.

During the campaign, Wu attacked Hsieh as being "inhumane" after he agreed to act as a defence attorney for the murderer of Pai Hsiao-yen, hoping to persuade his surrender. The personal attack was said to have further pushed for Hsieh's victory. [4]

1998 Kaohsiung mayoral election
CandidatePartyVotes%
Frank Hsieh Democratic Progressive Party 387,79748.71
Wu Den-yih Kuomintang 383,23248.13
Cheng Te-yaoIndependent18,6992.35
Wu Chien-kuo New Party 6,4570.81
Total796,185100.00
Valid votes796,18598.54
Invalid/blank votes11,8111.46
Total votes807,996100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,004,87280.41
1998 Kaohsiung City Council election
PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Kuomintang 357,16345.1825+2
Democratic Progressive Party 211,95426.819-2
New Party 30,3633.841-1
Taiwan Independence Party 14,7071.860
Independents176,30822.309+1
Total790,495100.0044
Valid votes790,49598.02
Invalid/blank votes15,9961.98
Total votes806,491100.00
Registered voters/turnout1,002,48080.45

References

  1. "1997年縣市長選舉觀察──變遷中的地方政治". 台灣獨立建國聯盟. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  2. "近5屆縣市長黨籍". UDN. Archived from the original on 2010-11-14.
  3. 小笠原欣幸 (2021). 臺灣總統選舉--臺灣認同的成長與爭奪. 大家出版. pp. 152–155. ISBN   978-986-5562-10-6.
  4. 1 2 郭, 瓊俐 (October 2005). 《打鐵街少年——謝長廷的生命故事》 (in Chinese (Taiwan)) (First ed.). Taipei: 布克文化出版. ISBN   986-81139-7-0.
  5. "王玉雲批吳敦義過河拆橋". CTS News (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 1998-07-01. Archived from the original on 2021-08-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.