Presidential election in the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2004

Greetings for election winner Chen Shui-bian at a temple in his hometown of Guantian

The 2004 presidential election in the Republic of China took place on March 20, 2004. It was the 11th presidential election since 1947 and the third direct election of a president in the Republic of China to Taiwan . The main opponents were the incumbent President Chen Shui-bian and the Vice President Annette Lu as the leading candidates of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on the one hand and the Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Lien Chan with the chairman of the Qinmindang James Soong on the other. With a margin of 0.22% of the vote, the election was just barely won by the candidates of the DPP.

A referendum on relations with the People's Republic of China was also held on election day.

Election campaign

Pan-blue coalition supporters wave the Kuomintang flag

In February 2003, the Kuomintang and the Qinmindang (Chin. 親民 黨, English People First Party , PFP) agreed to form a common campaign platform for the upcoming presidential election. The candidate for the presidency was Lien Chan from the KMT and the candidate for the vice presidency James Soong from the Qinmindang. This happened against the background of the experience of the election in 2000 , in which both applicants ran separately and were surprisingly beaten by the candidate of the DPP, Chen Shui-bian. Together, however, both had won almost 60 percent of the vote at the time.

On November 11, 2003, President Chen Shui-Bian officially nominated Annette Lu again as a candidate for the office of vice-president after discussions within the party had taken place beforehand. Both were supported in the election campaign by the pan-green coalition .

As always, the political status of the Republic of China played an important role in the election campaign. The KMT-led pan-blue coalition emphasized Taiwan's Chinese roots, but spoke out strongly against the unity proposed by the People's Republic of China under the motto " one country, two systems ". The pan-green coalition stressed Taiwan's national interests as a separate state independent of China and accused the KMT of selling off Taiwan's interests to the People's Republic of China. There were numerous personal attacks during the election campaign. Both candidates and coalitions accused each other of corruption, nepotism and incompetence. Initially, the pan-blue coalition was in the lead in public opinion, but the mood began to turn at the latest after the mass demonstration organized by the pan-green coalition, the 228 hand-in-hand rally on February 28, 2004 . On March 19, 2004, the day before the election, a firearms attack on the president and the vice-president took place at an election rally in Tainan, in which both were slightly injured. The background could not be clearly clarified, presumably it was a single perpetrator. Shortly after the incident, KMT supporters speculated that the event might have been staged in order to gain support for the DPP president. Alleged inconsistencies were referred to. Among other things, the injured president was not taken to the nearest hospital, but to a more distant one. The whole incident was also not well documented on any camera recordings and a suspected blood stain visible on the first recordings could no longer be seen on the President's clothes when he arrived at the hospital. These accusations were vehemently rejected by the supporters of the pan-green coalition and also assessed as implausible by independent observers.

The outbreak of the SARS epidemic also played a certain role . Taiwan was affected by SARS outbreaks from March / April 2003. Epidemiological analyzes showed that the origin of the epidemic lay in southern China, from where it spread to Taiwan. This confirmed parts of the Taiwanese public in their view of the "bad effects" of increased contact with mainland China. In addition, the People's Republic of China blocked the Taiwanese government's request for observer status with the World Health Organization (WHO). The Taiwanese government had offered to send SARS experts to a WHO meeting, which met resistance from the People's Republic. President Chen then publicly complained that Taiwan should not be left in isolation on the SARS issue and received support from the US House of Representatives , which passed a resolution to that effect. This contributed to Chen's popularity in Taiwan.

• 

  Chen Shui-bian
  (DPP)
  acting president

• 

  Lien Chan
  (KMT)
  candidate for the presidency

• 

  Annette Lu
  (DPP)
  acting Vice-President

• 

  James Soong
  (PFP)
  candidate for Vice President

Results of the presidential election

Election day was largely uneventful. When it became clear on election evening that the pan-green coalition was very narrowly in the lead, the KMT's top candidate issued a statement in which he described the elections as "unfair". He also called for an independent investigation into the previous day's attack, which he described as opaque and suspicious. In the days that followed, there were mass demonstrations by KMT supporters. Eventually, both sides agreed to recount the constituencies in question under independent control. This took place from May 10th to 18th, 2004. In the end, it was Chen Shui-bian's election victory. However, its lead had shrunk from 29,518 votes in the first count to 25,563 votes in the second count.

Nationwide results

Graphic representation of the majority ratios

The table shows the results after the first vote count.

Candidates (President and Vice)		Political party	Constituencies	be right	percent
	Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Annette Lu (呂秀蓮)	DPP	11	6,471,970	50.11%
	Lien Chan (連戰), James Soong (宋楚瑜)	Kuomintang	14th	6,442,452	49.89%
total			25th	12,914,422	100.0%

The turnout was 80.28%, of the total of 13,251,719 votes cast, 337,297 (2.5%) were deemed invalid.

Results by constituency

The following table shows the results in the 18 rural districts and seven urban districts or cities directly under the government. The winner's votes and percentage are each marked in red. The distribution of majorities is typical of the Taiwanese political scene. The DPP has its political focus in the south of the country, the KMT in the north and east. The highest percentage of votes for the KMT was on the Matsu Islands and Kinmen , which are located near the People's Republic of China , whose residents fear a conflict with the People's Republic of China due to the policy of a DPP-led government aimed at achieving Taiwan's independence.

Constituency	Chen ・ Lu		Lien ・ Soong		Invalid votes	electoral abstention
	be right	%	be right	%
Taipei City (台北市)	690.379	43.47%	897.870	56.53%	30,789	207.491
Taipei County (台北 県)	1,000,265	46.94%	1,130,615	53.06%	52,948	130,350
Keelung City (基隆市)	90.276	40.56%	132.289	59.44%	4,996	42,013
Yilan County (宜蘭 県)	147,848	57.71%	108,361	42.39%	8,885	39,487
Taoyuan County (桃園 県)	448.770	44.68%	555,688	55.32%	30,838	106,918
Hsinchu County (新竹 県)	92,576	35.93%	165.027	64.07%	6,737	72,451
Hsinchu City (新竹市)	96,818	44.88%	118.924	55.12%	5,143	22,106
Miaoli County (苗栗 県)	123.427	39.24%	191.059	60.76%	10,868	67,632
Taichung County (台中 県)	440.479	51.79%	410,082	48.21%	27,270	30,397
Taichung City (台中市)	267,095	47.34%	297,098	52.66%	10,566	30.003
Changhua County (彰化 県)	383.296	52.26%	350.128	47.74%	26,288	33,168
Nantou County (南投 県)	146.415	48.75%	153.913	51.25%	8,784	7,498
Yunlin County (雲林 県)	243.129	60.32%	159.906	39.68%	16,748	83.223
Chiayi County (嘉義 県)	199,466	62.79%	118.189	37.21%	11,554	81,277
Chiayi City (嘉義 市)	85,702	56.06%	67.176	43.94%	2,905	18,526
Tainan County (台南 県)	421.927	64.79%	229.284	35.21%	19,313	192,643
Tainan City (台南市)	251.397	57.77%	183,786	42.23%	8,247	67,611
Kaohsiung City (高雄市)	500,304	55.64%	398,769	44.37%	15,012	101,535
Kaohsiung County (高雄 県)	425.265	58.40%	302.937	41.60%	21,903	122,328
Pingtung County (屏東 県)	299,321	58.11%	215.796	41.89%	13,385	83,525
Hualien County (花蓮 県)	53.501	29.79%	126.041	70.21%	4,523	72,540
Taitung County (台 東 県)	40.203	34.48%	76,382	65.32%	3,198	36,179
Penghu County (澎湖 県)	22,162	49.47%	22,639	50.53%	1,213	477
Kinmen (金門 県)	1,701	6.45%	26,433	93.54%	1,069	24,732
Matsu Islands (連 江 県)	248	5.76%	4,060	94.24%	117	3.812

Voting cards

• 

  Constituency majorities in the election: majority for Lien / Soong (pan-blue coalition) majority for Chen / Lu (pan-green coalition)
  
  

• 

  Majorities according to urban and rural communities

Referendum results

In 2003, the Legislative Yuan passed a law that made it possible for the first time to hold popular votes. At the initiative of the ruling DPP, a referendum with two questions was introduced. The first was whether the Taiwanese government should be empowered to install missile defense systems to counter the threat posed by missile systems across the Taiwan Strait from the People's Republic of China :

「台灣 人民 堅持 台海 問題 應該 和平 解決。 如果 中共 不 撤除 瞄準 台灣 的 飛彈 、 不 放棄 對 台灣 使用 武力 武力 ， 您 是否 贊成 政府 政府 增加 購置 反 飛彈 裝備 ， 以 強化 台灣 自我 防衛 能力?」

“ The people of Taiwan are demanding a peaceful solution to the Taiwan Strait issue. In the event mainland China refuses to withdraw the missiles aimed at Taiwan and renounce force against Taiwan, do you agree that the government should set up a missile defense system to strengthen Taiwan's ability to defend itself? "

- Government Information Office of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

The second question was whether negotiations should be started with the People's Republic of China in order to build a "peace and stability network" in mutual interest

「您 是否 同意 政府 與 中共 展開 協商 ， 推動 建立 兩岸 和平 穩定 的 互動 架構 ， 以 謀求 兩岸 的 共識 與 人民 的 福祉?」

" Do you agree that our government should seek to negotiate with mainland China a" peace and stability network "for cross-strait relations to reach agreements and promote the welfare of the people on both sides of the road? "

- Government Information Office of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

The opposition pan-blue coalition recommended abstention from voting. Most of the votes were voted "yes", but the required participation of 50 percent was not achieved, so the results of the two votes were not binding.

referendum	Yes votes (in%)	No votes (in%)	Invalid votes (in%)	Voter turnout (in%)
Question 1 (missile defense)	6,511,216 (91.8%)	581,413 (8.2%)	359,711 (4.8%)	45.2%
Question 2 ("Peace and Stability Network")	6,319,663 (92.1%)	545,911 (8.0%)	578,574 (7.8%)	45.1%

Web links

• Official results in short
• Results at the Central Electoral Commission of Taiwan (Chinese)

literature

• Tana AC, Wu Jd The presidential election in Taiwan, March 2004. Electoral Studies 24 (3), September 2005, pp. 519-524 doi: 10.1016 / j.electstud.2005.01.003

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pictures of the assassination. March 23, 2004, accessed March 19, 2011 (English, +, Chinese). 
2. ^ Keith Bradsher, Joseph Kahn: Taiwanese Leaders Survive Shooting Incident Ahead of Vote. The New York Times, March 19, 2004, accessed March 19, 2011 . 
3. ^ Taiwan election shooting suspect dead. ABC News Online, March 7, 2005, accessed March 19, 2011 . 
4. ^ Q&A: Taiwan election dispute. BBC News, July 8, 2004, accessed March 19, 2011 . 
5. ^ John F. Copper: Taiwan's Presidential and Vice-Presidential election: Democracy's consolidation or devolution? Maryland Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, 2004 (176) School of Law University of Maryland , ISBN 1-932330-06-2 . PDF
6. ↑ Kerry Dumbaugh: China-US Relations: Current Issues for the 108th Congress. (PDF) Congressional Research Service - The Library of Congress, September 15, 2003, accessed October 29, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan) ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) in the English translation: The People of Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should Mainland China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force against us, would you agree that the Government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities? 
8. ↑ Government Information Office, Republic of China (Taiwan) ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) in the English translation: Would you agree that our Government should engage in negotiation with Mainland China on the establishment of a “peace and stability” framework for cross-strait interactions in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples on both sides ? 
9. ↑ Joseph M. Scanlon: A case study in foreign policy making: decision-making, regime politics, and deterrence in the Taiwan strait. Central Michigan University, February 2005, p. 118 , accessed March 17, 2011 (English, master's thesis).