Presidential election in the Republic of China (Taiwan) 2012

The eventual election winner Ma Ying-jeou at an election rally shortly before the election.

The 2012 presidential election in the Republic of China ( Chinese 中華民國 第十三 任 總統 、 副 總統 選舉 ) took place on January 14, 2012. It was the 5th direct election of a president in the Republic of China to Taiwan. Until the introduction of direct elections in 1996, the presidents were still elected by the National Assembly. Elections to the legislative yuan were held on the same day . The election was won by an absolute majority of incumbent Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang .

prehistory

The 2008 presidential election was won by the Kuomintang (KMT) with a large majority. Their top candidate Ma Ying-jeou received almost 60% of the vote and was elected president. Shortly before, the KMT-led pan-blue coalition had also won the elections for the legislative yuan and thus had a two-thirds majority in parliament together with the coalition parties. The reason for these landslide victories was the extreme unpopularity of the then incumbent President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who was exposed to serious allegations of corruption. Shortly after the lost election, Chen was charged and sentenced to several years imprisonment and a large fine for corruption. Due to the solid majority in parliament, the newly elected President Ma was able to implement a policy according to his ideas. Above all, this included rapprochement with the People's Republic of China, the culmination of which was the conclusion of a trade agreement with the most-favored nation clause (ECFA = Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement ) on June 29, 2010 in Chongqing . Under the leadership of the newly elected party chairman Tsai Ing-wen, the DPP only gradually recovered from its low popularity, which was expressed in several regional and local elections.

Candidates

At the 18th party conference of the Kuomintang on July 2, 2011 in Taichung , the incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou was again elected as the top candidate without opposing candidates. His Vice President Vincent Siew decided against running again. On June 19, 2011, Ma announced that Prime Minister Wu Den-yih was his candidate for the office of vice president. In public opinion polls on April 25 and 26, 2011, the DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen was chosen as the top candidate of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). On September 9th, Tsai announced that she would campaign with Su Jia-chyuan , general secretary of the DPP, as a candidate for the post of vice-president. On November 11th, James Soong announced his candidacy as the top candidate of the Qinmindang ( English People First Party (PFP) ). For candidates for the vice president he chose Lin Ruey-Shiung , an emeritus professor of National Taiwan University , who had not previously been politically active. On December 9, 2011, the order of the candidates on the ballot papers was determined by the Central Election Commission. The duo Tsai / Su comes first, followed by Ma / Wu and Soong / Lin.

Campaign issues

Television debates

In most polls in 2011, Ma was in the lead in voter favor. On December 3, 2011, a first televised debate between the three candidates took place. As was to be expected, the main theme was future relations with the People's Republic of China. DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen denied that there was a consensus on “One China - Two Systems”. President Ma (KMT) accused the DPP of insubstantiality in this matter and underlined the standpoint of his KMT government, which he summarized in the principle "no association, no independence, no use of force". James Soong (PFP) emphasized that he was committed to maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait. He urged the People's Republic of China to show respect for the people of Taiwan by allowing Taiwan to sign free trade agreements with other countries and by withdrawing the missiles aimed at Taiwan. The second television discussion of the top candidates took place on December 17th, 2011. In it, Tsai Ing-wen expressed her fears that Taiwan would lose its sovereignty if President Ma stayed in office for another four years. She also criticized the Taiwanese economy for having lost momentum during his tenure. If elected, she promised to strengthen democracy and the quality of life for the people in Taiwan. She also stated that she wanted to increase social spending in individual areas and to work to reduce the urban-rural divide. President Ma focused his statements on youth, children, and women. It is these three groups that will determine Taiwan's future. He emphasized that more than 350,000 new jobs would have been created during his tenure, significantly more than during the tenure of his DPP predecessor. Ma announced an increase in social spending for families with children. In terms of foreign policy, he is striving for good relations across the Taiwan Strait . He spoke out in favor of Taiwan running to host the Olympic Games in 2024 . James Soong, the PFP candidate, focused on national security issues. This should not only be seen militarily, but also financially and socially. He said that the main threat to the residents of Taiwan came not from the missiles in mainland China, but from the nuclear reactors in the Taipei metropolitan area , which were threatened by natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons or floods. He spoke out in favor of expanding renewable energies, expanding the broadband internet network and reducing national debt. In the debate, all 3 top candidates were cautious in their statements regarding tax increases for top earners.

Corruption allegations

Corruption allegations were a secondary issue. President Ma accused Ms. Tsai of having a conflict of interest because she provided financial assistance to biotechnology company TaiMed Biologics Co. as Vice Prime Minister in 2007 and then moved to the company's executive chair 4 months after the 2008 election . Tsai accused Ma of abusing his office as president and using the state apparatus for a smear campaign against her. The DPP called on Attorney General Huang Shih-ming to investigate these allegations. She accused Ma of accepting a donation of NT $ 15 million (US $ 493,924) from Daniel Tsai, chairman of Taipei Fubon Financial Holding Co. , during the 2008 election campaign . As Mayor of Taipei, Ma had campaigned for the merger of Taipei Bank and Fubon Bank . The allegations were denied by Ma, who in turn pointed out that his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian of the DPP, was now in jail for corruption in office.

Just before the election

On January 11, 2012, three days before the election date, ex-President Lee Teng-hui of the Kuomintang publicly declared his support for Tsai Ing-wen. He justified this with the danger of coming too close to mainland China, whose accommodation was only of a tactical nature. On the same day, Douglas Paal, former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AiT), said in an interview with Taiwanese broadcaster CtiTV that the re-election of President Ma would be a great relief for both the US and mainland China. The AiT hastened to state that this was just a personal expression and by no means the official position of the US government, which would be happy to work with any future candidate. Ms. Tsai spoke out in favor of forming a grand coalition of DPP and KMT if she won the election, which President Ma rejected. A coalition government is "impractical" and only a tactical electoral maneuver. Ma said he apologized on behalf of the KMT for past mistakes, including the events following the February 28, 1947 incident and the years of anti-communist White Terror under the Kuomintang government from the 1950s to 1970s. In return, he called on Ms. Tsai to apologize publicly for the "years of corruption" under the DPP governments 2000-2008.

Election results

Nationwide results

Election result of the presidential election

The turnout was 74.38%. Of the 18,086,455 eligible voters, 13,452,016 cast their votes, with 97,711 votes being invalid.

Candidates (President and Vice)		Political party	Constituencies	be right	percent
	Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Wu Den-yih (吳敦義)	Kuomintang (KMT)	15th	6,891,139	51.60%
	Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全)	DPP	7th	6.093.578	45.63%
	James Soong (宋楚瑜), Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄)	Qinmindang (PFP)	0	369,588	2.77%
total			22nd	13.354.305	100.0%

Results according to rural and urban districts

The following table shows the results in the 14 rural districts and 8 urban districts or cities directly under the government. The winner's votes and percentage are each marked in red.

Constituency	Tsai • Su		Ma • Wu		Soong • Lin
	be right	%	be right	%	be right	%
Taipei City (臺北市)	634,565	39.54%	928.717	57.87%	41,448	2.58%
New Taipei City (新 北市)	1,007,551	43.45%	1,245,673	53.73%	65,269	2.82%
Keelung City (基隆市)	79,562	36.76%	128.294	59.29%	8,533	3.94%
Yilan County (宜蘭 縣)	135.156	52.53%	115,496	44.89%	6,652	2.59%
Taoyuan County (桃園 縣)	445.308	39.85%	639.151	57.20%	32,927	2.94%
Hsinchu County (新竹 縣)	89,741	30.93%	190.797	65.76%	9,599	3.30%
Hsinchu City (新竹市)	92,632	39.48%	134,728	57.43%	7.216	3.08%
Miaoli County (苗栗 縣)	107.164	33.18%	206.200	63.85%	9,597	2.97%
Taichung City (台中市)	678.736	44.68%	792.334	52.16%	48.030	3.16%
Changhua County (彰化 縣)	340.069	46.49%	369,968	50.58%	21,403	2.93%
Nantou County (南投 縣)	123.077	42.36%	158,703	54.62%	8,726	3.00%
Yunlin County (雲林 縣)	214.141	55.81%	159,891	41.67%	9,662	2.51%
Chiayi County (嘉義 縣)	181,463	58.58%	120,946	39.04%	7,364	2.38%
Chiayi City (嘉義 市)	76,711	51.04%	69,535	46.27%	4,042	2.69%
Tainan City (台南市)	631.232	57.72%	435.274	39.80%	27,066	2.47%
Kaohsiung City (高雄市)	883.158	53.42%	730.461	44.19%	39,469	2.39%
Pingtung County (屏東 縣)	271,722	55.13%	211,571	42.92%	9,562	1.94%
Hualien County (花蓮 縣)	43,845	25.94%	118,815	70.30%	6,359	3.76%
Taitung County (台東縣)	33,417	30.50%	72,823	66.47%	3,313	3.02%
Penghu County (澎湖縣)	20,717	45.65%	22,579	49.75%	2,082	4.58%
Kinmen (金門 縣)	3,193	8.21%	34,676	89.23%	990	2.54%
Matsu Islands (連江縣)	418	8.03%	4,507	86.60%	279	5.36%

Voting card

• 

  Constituency majorities in the election Absolute majority for Tsai Ing-wen / Su Jia-chyuan Absolute majority for Ma Ying-jeou / Wu Den-yih
  
  

• 

  Majorities in the urban and rural communities

Development immediately after the election

After President Ma's election victory was clear, representatives from various states, including the White House and the US State Department, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton , the Japanese State Department, Singapore, Canada, Great Britain and other states congratulated . Ma thanked his voters and declared the election a "victory for the people of Taiwan". He will now continue to pursue the "path to a clean, peaceful and prosperous Taiwan". The leader of the DPP, Ms. Tsai, announced her resignation as party leader. She expressed herself in part critical of her party's election campaign. The reasons for the defeat should now be analyzed in peace. On the issue of cross-strait relations, she said that these are very complex and cannot be viewed from the simplified perspective of the KMT. She expressed her belief that there must be consensus on cross-strait relations in Taiwan, otherwise these issues would continue to be a source of social divide.

See also

• History of Taiwan

literature

• Günter Schucher: Elections in Taiwan. Vote for stability. GIGA Focus Asia, No. 2/2012.
• Thomas Weyrauch: Taiwan's common color. The Democratic Profile of the Republic of China . Heuchelheim: Longtai 2015, ISBN 978-3-938946-26-8 .

Web links

• Results at the Central Electoral Commission of Taiwan (Chinese)
• 2012 Presidential Election Republic of China (Taiwan) , government information on the presidential election
• Presidential and parliamentary elections on January 14th, 2012 ( Memento of December 22nd, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) - German-language information page from Radio Taiwan International

Commons : Presidential Election in the Republic of China 2012  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Interviews with the main candidates

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

Campaign Pages

• Ma Ying-jeou
• Tsai Ing-wen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The election campaign is slowly gaining momentum. Radio Taiwan International (German-language service), July 2, 2011, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved July 16, 2011 . 
2. ↑ President Ma wants to run for the 2012 presidential election with Wu Den-yih as the vice-presidential candidate. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), July 1, 2011, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved July 16, 2011 . 
3. ↑ Soong is officially registering as a candidate for presidential elections. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), November 24, 2011, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved December 11, 2011 . 
4. ↑ DPP draws top listing on presidential ballot. Focus Taiwan News Channel, December 9, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
5. ↑ Ma has a high approval rating. Radio Taiwan International (German language service), May 20, 2011, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved June 13, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Survey: presidential candidates head to head. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), November 13, 2011, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved November 19, 2011 . 
7. ^ First TV debate of the presidential candidates. Radio Taiwan International (German language service), December 3, 2011, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved December 11, 2011 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} It's time to change president: DPP candidate. Focus Taiwan News Channel, December 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Ma focuses on youth, children and women in presidential debate. Focus Taiwan News Channel, December 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
10. ↑ PFP presidential candidate highlights national safety issues. Focus Taiwan News Channel, December 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
11. ↑ Candidates talk cautiously about raising taxes for the wealthy. Focus Taiwan News Channel, December 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
12. ^ Ma, Tsai carry TaiMed fight into debate (roundup). December 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
13. ↑ DPP challenges Ma administration over alleged surveillance of Tsai. December 30, 2011, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
14. ↑ Ma rebuts opposition's political donation allegation. December 17, 2011, accessed December 21, 2011 . 
15. ^ President denies selling out Taiwan, touts incorruptibility. December 30, 2011, accessed December 31, 2011 . 
16. ↑ Ex-President supports Tsai Ing-wen. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 11, 2012, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 . 
17. ↑ AIT: Paal's statement is a personal opinion. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 13, 2012, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 . 
18. ↑ DPP continues for grand coalition. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 9, 2012, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 . 
19. ↑ Ma: coalition government not practicable. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 11, 2012, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 . 
20. ^ President Ma criticizes the idea of ​​the DPP presidential candidate for a coalition. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 10, 2012, archived from the original on July 20, 2012 ; Retrieved January 13, 2012 . 
21. ↑ ^{a b} 第 13 任 總統 (副 總統) 選舉 候選人 得 票數 投票 日期 ： 中華民國 101 年 01 月 14 日. Central Electoral Commission, accessed December 25, 2015 (Chinese). 
22. ↑ EU, USA and other countries congratulate Ma Ying-jeou on the election victory. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 15, 2011, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; Retrieved January 17, 2011 . 
23. ^ Elections: President Ma Ying-jeou re-elected. Radio Taiwan International (German-speaking service), January 14, 2011, archived from the original on July 8, 2012 ; Retrieved January 17, 2011 . 
24. ↑ DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen announces resignation as party leader after losing the election. (No longer available online.) Radio Taiwan International (German-language service), January 14, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 17, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.