Election of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China in 1992

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(Voter turnout 72.0%)

 %

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

53.0

31.0

1.8

14.0

KMT

DPP

Otherwise.

Independent

The 1992 election of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China took place on December 19, 1992. The election was won by the Kuomintang (KMT).

prehistory

Hsu Hsin-liang (1992), DPP chairman 1991–1993 and opposition leader

The 1992 Legislative Yuan election was the first election to elect all members of the Legislative Yuan , the legislative assembly of the Republic of China in Taiwan . Previously there had only ever been so-called “supplementary elections”. In addition, the previous elections had not been completely free by Western standards. Some election observers therefore described the 1992 election as the most important election in the history of the Republic of China in Taiwan.

Essentially two parties faced each other in the election. On the one hand the Kuomintang (KMT), which had held the monopoly of power on Taiwan since the Republic of China was founded in 1947, and on the other hand the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which was founded in 1986 as a reservoir for oppositional forces against the KMT one-party rule. The current election was preceded by an increasing democratization of Taiwanese society for more than a decade. The Kuomintang, which had previously ruled under dictatorial autocracy, had increasingly relaxed its universal claim to state power and had begun to reform itself from within. The old party cadres, who used to be recruited almost exclusively from native mainland Chinese or their descendants with strictly anti-communist ideology, were gradually replaced by people with a politically more liberal attitude, mostly native Taiwanese. In 1992 this party restructuring had progressed so far that the new, more liberal "Taiwanese" party cadre formed the majority (the so-called mainstream faction, which also included party leader Lee Teng-hui ), while the old, more conservative, "Chinese" Cadres formed a minority (the non-mainstream faction that Prime Minister Hau Pei-tsun was a part of).

In 1987 the previously applicable martial law was repealed and the restrictions on the establishment of new parties no longer existed. The later main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which was later founded illegally in 1986, called for the complete democratization of Taiwan's structures and the establishment of a multi-party system. Most of its supporters came from the long-established population of Taiwan, who had previously been largely excluded from political participation, while the KMT elites, as mentioned, were for a long time recruited from descendants of mainland Chinese. As a result, the DPP and KMT had different attitudes towards Taiwan's political status. The KMT continued to stick to the goal of "reunification" with the mainland (albeit not under communist auspices), while the DPP wanted to give up this goal in favor of its own Taiwanese identity and demanded a "declaration of independence" for the island nation.

In the months leading up to the election, both major parties, especially the KMT, had to struggle with internal party disputes. At the end of October 1992 two prominent members of the KMT government, the director of the environmental agency Jaw Shau-kang ( 趙少康 ) and the finance minister Wang Chien-shien ( 王建 煊 ), announced their resignation for various reasons and subsequently resigned without being nominated by the KMT as an independent candidate. Some KMT members of the so-called wisdom Coalition ( wisdom coalition ) gave way under the slogan of "one China - one Taiwan" policy public from the official one-China -Parteilinie, so that one of its most prominent representatives, Chen Che-nan ( 陳哲男 ) was eventually expelled from the KMT, which caused considerable unrest in the party.

The DPP declared its election goal to introduce a system of checks and balances , ie effective control of the government by the opposition. In an interview shortly before the election, the General Secretary of the DPP Chiu Yi-jen expressed the expectation that the DPP would reach around 30% of the parliamentary seats. The DPP has good candidates, but the KMT has a well-rehearsed party and election campaign machinery and has an advantage thanks to the “golden cows” and “diamond oxen” (= rich financiers and party financiers) who spend millions on the election campaign.

The election campaigns officially began on December 9, 1992 and lasted 10 days. However, in the weeks before there were quasi “unofficial” election campaign events with political discussions and the like. The election campaign was very lively, but was largely non-violent with the exception of minor fights and similar incidents. The favor of the voters was advertised with multiple neon-colored neon signs, omnipresent election posters and flyers, TV advertisements and loudspeaker announcements. Folkloric interludes such as lion dances gave the election campaign an exotic, specifically Taiwanese-Chinese character for Western eyes.

Election mode and candidates

The voting mode corresponded to a mixture of proportional and majority voting. 125 candidates were elected in 23 multi-person constituencies according to the principle of non-transferable individual voting. Of the 125 seats, 6 were reserved for the Taiwanese natives (three each for the highlands, three for the lowlands). A further 36 seats were filled from a nationwide list based on party votes, with 6 seats reserved for overseas Taiwanese.

A total of 403 candidates applied for the 161 seats in parliament. Of the 71 registered political parties, only 14 nominated candidates for election. Only five parties - the KMT, DPP, the Chinese Social Democratic Party (CSDP), and the Truth Party - put forward more than five candidates, which was the minimum requirement for television advertising. There were a total of 403 candidates. Of these, 348 ran in the constituencies - 124 KMT, 59 DPP, 22 CSDP and 5 for the Truth Party. Another 15 constituency candidates were split between the other 10 parties and there were 123 independent candidates. More than 40 independents were former KMT or DPP members who had left their parties to run as independents. An average of just under three candidates per constituency applied, significantly more than in previous elections. The KMT nominated 27, the DPP 16 and the CSDP 3 candidates for the 30 seats in the state lists, and 6 KMT and 3 DPP candidates were nominated for the seats of the overseas voters.

Results

The turnout was 72.02% and a total of 9,488,772 valid votes were counted. Of the Taiwanese natives, 63,831 were given up in the mountains and 49,333 in the lowlands.

Political party		be right		Mandates				Total seats
		number	in %	List	Foreign	Constituency	Native people-	number	%
	Kuomintang (中國 國民黨)	5,030,725	53.02	19th	4th	68	5	95	59.0
	Democratic Progressive Party (民主 進步 黨)	2,944,195	31.03	11	2	38	0	51	31.7
	Social Democratic Party (中華 社會 民主黨)	126.213	1.33	0	0	1	0	1	0.6
	Taiwan Labor Party (工黨, Labor Party )	32,349	0.34	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Taiwan Workers Party (勞動 黨, Worker's Party )	11,224	0.12	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Truth Party (真理 黨, Truth Party )	6,545	0.07	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	China Unity Party (中國 團結 黨, Chinese United Party )	1,473	0.02	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	People's Action Party (中國人民行動黨, China People's Action Party )	1,221	0.01	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Young China Party (中國 中青 黨, Chinese Youth Party )	1,035	0.01	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	National Revival Party (中興 黨, Chinese Resurgence Party )	886	0.01	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Welfare Party (中國 全民 福利 黨, Chinese Welfare Party )	677	0.01	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Democratic Socialist Party (中國 民主 社會 黨, China Democratic Socialist Party )	418	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Democratic Party (中國 民主 大同 黨, Chinese Democratic Party )	201	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Loyalist Party (中國 忠義 黨, Chinese Loyalist Party )	90	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
	Independent	1,331,520	14.03	0	0	13	1	14th	8.7
total		9,488,772	100.00	30th	6th	119	6th	161	100.0
Source: Taiwan Electoral Commission and Schafferer C .: The Power of the Ballot Box

1. ↑ ^{a b} Taking into account the later correction in Hualien.

Of the 161 elected MPs, 144 were men and 17 (10.6%) women.

Constituency cards

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  Constituency results (parties with the strongest votes, the votes for independents are added together). Kuomintang DPP Independent
  
  
  

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  Constituency results in hexagonal representation: Kuomintang DPP Social Democratic Party of Independents
  
  
  
  

After the election

Composition of the newly elected Legislative Yuan: Kuomintang (95) DPP (51) Social Democratic Party (1) Independent (14)





There have been multiple reports of vote buying . The General Secretary of the DPP accused the KMT of collecting votes for 1,500 to 3,500 Taiwan dollars (about US $ 60–140) in the southern districts of Taipei . An alleged one-sided reporting in favor of the KMT by the state-controlled television was also criticized. There were allegations in Hualien City that the count was incorrect. When counting again, there were 738 more votes than there were voters. The scandal that followed led to the conviction of a city employee for election fraud in favor of the KMT candidate. The DPP candidate Huang Shin-chieh , who was originally defeated in Hualien and was in third place in the two-person constituency, slipped to second place and was declared the winner. The number of DPP mandates changed from the original 50 to 51 and that of the KMT from 96 to 95.

As a result, although the Kuomintang won the majority of the votes and seats, the election result was viewed by most as a success of the DPP. Compared to the election of the National Assembly in 1991, the KMT fell from 71% to 53% of the vote, while the DPP gained more (from 24% to 31%). The KMT was particularly strong in the rural regions, while the DPP was almost on par with it in the large cities. In Chiayi City , the DPP candidate was ahead of the KMT candidate. There was another power shift within the KMT. Of the 95 elected KMT MPs, the majority were assigned to the mainstream faction within the KMT, while the non-mainstream faction, which rallied behind former Prime Minister Hau Pei-tsun , comprised only a minority. Due to this changed balance of power within the party, President Lee was able to appoint his preferred candidate, Provincial Governor Lien Chan, as the new Prime Minister on February 10, 1993 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} John F. Copper: Taiwan's 1992 Legislative Yuan Election . In: World Affairs . tape 155 , no. 2 . Sage Publications, Inc., ISSN  0043-8200 , p. 71-79 , JSTOR : 20672343 (English).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Taiwan Communiqué: Elections for the Legislative Yuan. (PDF) International Committee for Human Rights in Taiwan, December 1992, accessed November 18, 2016 (English, Issue No. 57). 
3. ↑ ^{a b} 臺灣 選舉 類別 與 結果 線上 瀏覽. Retrieved November 18, 2016 (Chinese, archived election results of the Taiwan Election Commission). 
4. ^ Christian Schafferer: The Power of the Ballot Box: Political Development and Election Campaigning in Taiwan . Lexington Books, 2003, ISBN 0-7391-0481-0 , pp. 70-72 (English).
5. ^ ^{A b} Taiwan Communiqué: Elections for the Legislative Yuan. (PDF) International Committee for Human Rights in Taiwan, February 1993, accessed November 18, 2016 (English, issue no.58, number 3). 
6. ^ Susan Yu: Vote-rigging scandal rocks Taiwan. (No longer available online.) Taiwan Today, January 1, 1993, archived from the original on November 19, 2016 ; accessed on November 18, 2016 (English). 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.