2012 Taiwanese presidential election

2012 Taiwanese presidential election

←  2008 14 January 2012 2016  →
Opinion polls
Registered	18,086,455
Turnout	74.38% (1.95pp)
Nominee Ma Ying-jeou Tsai Ing-wen Party Kuomintang DPP Running mate Wu Den-yih Su Jia-chyuan Popular vote 6,891,139 6,093,578 Percentage 51.60% 45.63%
Results by county-level units Results by township-level units
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.

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 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

Main article: 2011 Democratic Progressive Party presidential primary

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

2012 Democratic Progressive ticket
Tsai Ing-wen	Su Jia-chyuan
for President	for Vice President
Vice Premier of Taiwan (2006–2007)	Minister of the Council of Agriculture (2006–2008)

Democratic Progressive candidates

Su Tseng-chang	Hsu Hsin-liang
Premier (2006–2007)	Magistrate of Taoyuan County (1977–1979)
41.15% poll rating	12.21% 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.

2012 Kuomintang ticket
Ma Ying-jeou	Wu Den-yih
for President	for Vice President
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

2012 People First ticket
James Soong	Lin Ruey-shiung
for President	for Vice President
Governor of Taiwan Province (1993–1998)	Dean of the National Taiwan University Medical School (1993–1996)

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2012 Taiwanese presidential election

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

Candidate		Running mate	Party	Votes	%
	Ma Ying-jeou	Wu Den-yih	Kuomintang	6,891,139	51.60
	Tsai Ing-wen	Su Jia-chyuan	Democratic Progressive Party	6,093,578	45.63
	James Soong	Lin Ruey-shiung	Independent	369,588	2.77
Total				13,354,305	100.00
Valid votes				13,354,305	99.27
Invalid/blank votes				97,711	0.73
Total votes				13,452,016	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				18,086,455	74.38
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		Invalid	Total	Electorate	Turnout
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
New Taipei City	1,245,673	53.73	1,007,551	43.46	65,269	2.82	15,215	2,333,708	3,074,849	75.90%
Taipei City	928,717	57.87	634,565	39.54	41,448	2.58	9,669	1,614,399	2,102,664	76.78%
Taichung City	792,334	52.16	678,736	44.68	48,030	3.16	9,953	1,529,053	2,018,158	75.76%
Tainan City	435,274	39.80	631,232	57.72	27,066	2.48	8,090	1,101,662	1,485,047	74.18%
Kaohsiung City	730,461	44.19	883,158	53.42	39,469	2.39	10,944	1,664,032	2,192,005	75.91%
Yilan County	115,496	44.89	135,156	52.53	6,652	2.59	2,437	259,741	358,059	72.54%
Taoyuan County	639,151	57.20	445,308	39.85	32,927	2.95	7,610	1,124,996	1,506,311	74.69%
Hsinchu County	190,797	65.76	89,741	30.93	9,599	3.31	2,176	292,313	384,261	76.07%
Miaoli County	206,200	63.85	107,164	33.18	9,597	2.97	2,600	325,561	436,219	74.63%
Changhua County	369,968	50.58	340,069	46.49	21,403	2.93	7,367	738,807	1,005,714	73.46%
Nantou County	158,703	54.63	123,077	42.37	8,726	3.00	2,165	292,671	411,482	71.13%
Yunlin County	159,891	41.67	214,141	55.81	9,662	2.52	4,348	388,042	563,034	68.92%
Chiayi County	120,946	39.04	181,463	58.58	7,364	2.38	3,052	312,825	431,588	72.48%
Pingtung County	211,571	42.93	271,722	55.13	9,562	1.94	4,571	497,426	684,517	72.67%
Taitung County	72,823	66.47	33,417	30.50	3,313	3.02	1,019	110,572	178,938	61.79%
Hualien County	118,815	70.30	43,845	25.94	6,359	3.76	1,570	170,589	263,888	64.64%
Penghu County	22,579	49.76	20,717	45.65	2,082	4.59	543	45,921	77,817	59.01%
Keelung City	128,294	59.29	79,562	36.77	8,533	3.94	1,414	217,803	302,139	72.09%
Hsinchu City	134,728	57.43	92,632	39.49	7,216	3.08	1,628	236,204	312,118	75.68%
Chiayi City	69,535	46.27	76,711	51.04	4,042	2.69	973	151,261	205,711	73.53%
Kinmen County	34,676	89.24	3,193	8.22	990	2.55	316	39,175	83,949	46.67%
Lienchiang County	4,507	86.61	418	8.03	279	5.36	51	5,255	7,987	65.79%
Total	6,891,139	51.60	6,093,578	45.63	369,588	2.77	97,711	13,452,016	18,086,455	74.38%
Source: CEC [23]

Maps

Vote leader and vote share in township-level districts.	Vote leader in county-level districts.	Swing between the two major parties from the previous presidential election.
Winner vote lead over runner-up by township/city or district.	Size of lead between the two tickets.

Reactions

•   Mainland China  – 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." ^[24]
•   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. ^[25]
•   Singapore  – Even before the confirmation of the result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement congratulating Ma ^[26] 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, 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." ^[19]

References

1. ":::Presidential Elections:::". Central Election Commission. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
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.
6. "蔡：無92共識 推台灣共識". The Liberty Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
7. "【十年政綱】一、國家安全戰略". Democratic Progressive Party. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
8. "Cna English News". Focustaiwan.tw. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
9. Su Jia-chyuan picked as DPP vice-presidential candidate, 9 September 2011, retrieved 9 September 2011
10. Mo Yan-chih (8 April 2011). "Ma sends KMT members to claim 2012 registration". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
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. "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.
24. Forsythe, Michael; Sun, Yu-Huay; Wong, Andrew (14 January 2012). "Ma Wins Second Term in Taiwan Election". Bloomberg News . Retrieved 14 January 2012.
25. "RTHK".
26. "S'pore congratulates Ma Ying-jeou". Channel NewsAsia. 14 January 2012.

External links

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

Candidate information

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