2012 Taiwanese presidential election

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2012 Taiwanese presidential election
Flag of the Republic of China.svg
  2008 14 January 2012 2016  
Opinion polls
Registered18,086,455
Turnout74.38% (Decrease2.svg1.95pp)
  Ma Ying-jeou election infobox.jpg Cai Ying Wen Guan Fang Yuan Shou Xiao Xiang Zhao  (cropped).png
Nominee Ma Ying-jeou Tsai Ing-wen
Party Kuomintang DPP
Running mate Wu Den-yih Su Jia-chyuan
Popular vote6,891,1396,093,578
Percentage51.60%45.63%

ROC 2012 Presidential Election County level.svg
ROC 2012 Presidential Election Township level.svg

President before election

Ma Ying-jeou
Kuomintang

Elected President

Ma Ying-jeou
Kuomintang

Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 14 January 2012. [1] [2] The election was held concurrently with legislative elections. It was the fifth direct election for the President of the Republic of China. Prior to 1996, the President was elected by the ROC's National Assembly and not directly by the people.

Contents

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) 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 had been friendlier 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 the PRC and the 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 was the "1992 consensus", a term describing the declared outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of mainland China and Taiwan. 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 democratically, 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]

Democratic Progressive nominees

Green Island with White Cross.svg
2012 Democratic Progressive ticket
Tsai Ing-wen Su Jia-chyuan
for Presidentfor Vice President
Cai Ying Wen Guan Fang Yuan Shou Xiao Xiang Zhao  (cropped).png
Su Jia-chyuan in 2016 LY altered.png
Vice Premier of Taiwan
(2006–2007)
Minister of the Council of Agriculture
(2006–2008)

Democratic Progressive candidates

Su Tseng-chang Hsu Hsin-liang
Su-Tseng-chang (cropped).jpg
0518Qiu Wan Xing She Ying Ji Xin Shu Fa Biao Hui 190518 0008.jpg
Premier
(2006–2007)
Magistrate of
Taoyuan County

(1977–1979)
41.15% poll rating12.21% poll rating

Kuomintang

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.

Kuomintang nominees

Ma Ying-jeou and Wu Den-yih election rally in Banqiao District, New Taipei. Ma Wahlkampf1.jpg
Ma Ying-jeou and Wu Den-yih election rally in Banqiao District, New Taipei.
Emblem of the Kuomintang.svg
2012 Kuomintang ticket
Ma Ying-jeou Wu Den-yih
for Presidentfor Vice President
Zhong Hua Min Guo Di 12, 13Ren Zong Tong Ma Ying Jiu Xian Sheng Guan Fang Xiao Xiang Zhao .jpg
Wu Den-yih (Chopped).jpg
President of Taiwan
(2008–2012)
Premier of Taiwan
(2009–2012)

People First Party

PFP chairman James Soong Chu-yu launched the party's first-ever presidential bid on 20 September 2011. Soong stated, however, that his candidacy was contingent on the success of a nationwide signature drive, organized by Kao Tsu-min and Yang Fu-mei. [12] [13] He vowed to run and keep his candidacy active through the election if his campaign garnered one million signatures throughout Taiwan. [14]

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. [15] [16]

People First nominees

LogoPFP.svg
2012 People First ticket
James Soong Lin Ruey-shiung
for Presidentfor Vice President
Song Chu Yu Zhu Xi 2016.jpg
Voa chinese LinRuey-shiung20111124.jpg
Governor of Taiwan Province
(1993–1998)
Dean of the National Taiwan
University
Medical School
(1993–1996)

Opinion polls

2012 Taiwanese presidential opinion pollings.svg
Local regression of polls conducted since 2011

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.

Results

CandidateRunning matePartyVotes%
Ma Ying-jeou Wu Den-yih Kuomintang 6,891,13951.60
Tsai Ing-wen Su Jia-chyuan Democratic Progressive Party 6,093,57845.63
James Soong Lin Ruey-shiung Independent 369,5882.77
Total13,354,305100.00
Valid votes13,354,30599.27
Invalid/blank votes97,7110.73
Total votes13,452,016100.00
Registered voters/turnout18,086,45574.38
Source: CEC

Voting took place between 8:00 and 16:00 local time at 14,806 polling stations. [17] After Ma's re-election, [18] he announced that his victory had vindicated his policies in regards to cross-strait relations. [19] Tsai conceded the election and resigned from her position as head of the DPP. [20] Turnout was reported to be over 74%. [21]

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. [22]

By administrative division

Subdivision Ma Ying-jeou
Wu Den-yih
Tsai Ing-wen
Su Jia-chyuan
James Soong
Lin Ruey-shiung
InvalidTotalElectorateTurnout
Votes%Votes%Votes%
New Taipei City 1,245,67353.731,007,55143.4665,2692.8215,2152,333,7083,074,84975.90%
Taipei City 928,71757.87634,56539.5441,4482.589,6691,614,3992,102,66476.78%
Taichung City 792,33452.16678,73644.6848,0303.169,9531,529,0532,018,15875.76%
Tainan City 435,27439.80631,23257.7227,0662.488,0901,101,6621,485,04774.18%
Kaohsiung City 730,46144.19883,15853.4239,4692.3910,9441,664,0322,192,00575.91%
Yilan County 115,49644.89135,15652.536,6522.592,437259,741358,05972.54%
Taoyuan County 639,15157.20445,30839.8532,9272.957,6101,124,9961,506,31174.69%
Hsinchu County 190,79765.7689,74130.939,5993.312,176292,313384,26176.07%
Miaoli County 206,20063.85107,16433.189,5972.972,600325,561436,21974.63%
Changhua County 369,96850.58340,06946.4921,4032.937,367738,8071,005,71473.46%
Nantou County 158,70354.63123,07742.378,7263.002,165292,671411,48271.13%
Yunlin County 159,89141.67214,14155.819,6622.524,348388,042563,03468.92%
Chiayi County 120,94639.04181,46358.587,3642.383,052312,825431,58872.48%
Pingtung County 211,57142.93271,72255.139,5621.944,571497,426684,51772.67%
Taitung County 72,82366.4733,41730.503,3133.021,019110,572178,93861.79%
Hualien County 118,81570.3043,84525.946,3593.761,570170,589263,88864.64%
Penghu County 22,57949.7620,71745.652,0824.5954345,92177,81759.01%
Keelung City 128,29459.2979,56236.778,5333.941,414217,803302,13972.09%
Hsinchu City 134,72857.4392,63239.497,2163.081,628236,204312,11875.68%
Chiayi City 69,53546.2776,71151.044,0422.69973151,261205,71173.53%
Kinmen County 34,67689.243,1938.229902.5531639,17583,94946.67%
Lienchiang County 4,50786.614188.032795.36515,2557,98765.79%
Total6,891,13951.606,093,57845.63369,5882.7797,71113,452,01618,086,45574.38%
Source: CEC [23]

Maps

2012 Taiwan Presidential Election Township level with County border.svg
2012 Taiwan Presidential Election, Tsai Ing-wen Township level with County border.svg
2012 Taiwan Presidential Election, Ma Ying-jeou Township level with County border.svg
Result by Township level
Vote leader and vote share in township-level districts. ROC 2012 Presidential Election Township level.svg
Vote leader and vote share in township-level districts.
Vote leader in county-level districts. 2012ROCPresident.svg
Vote leader in county-level districts.
Swing between the two major parties from the previous presidential election. ROC 2012 Presidential Election Township level swing.svg
Swing between the two major parties from the previous presidential election.
Winner vote lead over runner-up by township/city or district. Taiwan presidential election map detailed 2012.svg
Winner vote lead over runner-up by township/city or district.
Size of lead between the two tickets. ROC 2012 Presidential Election Township level diff.svg
Size of lead between the two tickets.

Reactions

References

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  2. Angella Tsai and Lilian Wu (21 April 2011). "Presidential, legislative poll set tentatively for Jan. 14". Central News Agency. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  3. "Tsai steps down as DPP chair after election defeat" Focus Taiwan News Channel. 2012.01.14
  4. "USCI Symposium on 2008 Taiwanese presidential election". USC US-China Institute. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  5. "黃金十年". Kuomintang. Archived from the original on 1 January 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
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  11. Ma picks Wu as vice presidential candidate, 19 June 2011, retrieved 19 June 2010
  12. Mo, Yan-chih (21 August 2011). "Supporters petition Soong to run". Taipei Times. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  13. 楊, 毅 (21 August 2011). "橘亮百萬連署擁宋 新:50萬都不到". China Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  14. "James Soong announces Taiwan presidential bid". Asiaone.com. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  15. "Articles - The Interpreter". lowyinterpreter.org.
  16. "Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business". Asia Times. 4 October 2011. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  17. CEC finalizes two-in-one poll preparations Archived 29 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine Taiwan Today. 13 January 2012
  18. "2012年總統副總統及立法委員選舉 – 選情查詢系統". Cec.gov.tw. Archived from the original on 16 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  19. 1 2 "Taiwan's China-Friendly President Re-Elected". Associated Press. 14 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  20. Wu, Sofia; Wang, Jamie; Lin, Kendra; Lee, James (14 January 2012). "Tsai steps down as DPP chair after election defeat (update)". Taipei. Central News Agency . Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  21. Jacobs, Andrew (14 January 2012). "New York Times article on election". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  22. "May 20, 2012 - Members of the US Navy Blue Angels separate while performing". The Economic Times.
  23. "中選會選舉資料庫網站". cec.gov.tw (in Chinese). Retrieved 17 January 2020.
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  25. "RTHK".
  26. "S'pore congratulates Ma Ying-jeou". Channel NewsAsia. 14 January 2012.

Candidate information