Election to the National Assembly of the Republic of China in 1991

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(Turnout 68.3%)

 %

70

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

69.1

23.3

1.8

2.9

2.9

KMT

DPP

NDNPA

Otherwise.

Independent

The 1991 election for the National Assembly of the Republic of China took place on December 21. It was the second election of a national assembly in the Republic of China since the end of the Second World War. It was also the first election by a nationwide legislature in the Republic of China to Taiwan , with all MPs re-elected. Previously, there had only ever been so-called supplementary elections, in which a small number of the MPs were elected. Third, it was the first full legislative body election since the abolition of martial law in 1987. The election was very clearly won by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT).

prehistory

According to the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China , the National Assembly was the central constitutional body of the Republic of China . She elected the president and was responsible for constitutional amendments. For normal legislation, however, the legislative yuan , the actual parliament, was intended. Since the communists were victorious in the Chinese Civil War , the National Assembly, which was elected across China in 1946, moved its seat to the island of Taiwan, which remained under the rule of the national Chinese government . Since then, she has remained in office without a new election, as the national Chinese government took the position that new elections should only take place in "all of China" with the participation of the citizens of mainland China. As the Republic and People's Republic of China continued to exist and coexist in the decades that followed, this became increasingly an unrealistic fiction. In the course of time, the number of members of the National Assembly, which had been 2,961 at the first session in Nanjing in 1948, steadily dwindled through the natural demise of the very elderly. From 1969 onwards, a small number of MPs was elected at irregular intervals in so-called supplementary elections, the last 84 MPs in 1986. Nevertheless, the number of members of the National Assembly had fallen to around 600 by the beginning of 1991. The average age of the MPs elected in mainland China in 1946 was over 80 at the time.

Except for the rare constitutional changes and the presidential elections that are repeated every 6 years, which were a purely formal matter during the KMT's autocracy, the members of the National Assembly had no other tasks and were thus largely condemned to inaction. Since they persistently maintained their parliamentary privileges, they did not have a good reputation with the opposition and were often referred to as the "old thieves" ( 老賊 , Lǎo zéi ).

Constitutional amendment and new election mode

The national assembly was also affected by the democratization of the political situation in Taiwan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under public pressure and in the face of student protests (the " Wild Lily Movement ") such as Taiwan had not seen since 1948, the National Assembly passed an extraordinary session on April 22, 1991 to amend the constitution came into force. This also changed the mode of electing the National Assembly. The members of the National Assembly should in future be determined entirely by election by the people of Taiwan, in a mixture of proportional representation and majority voting. At the end of 1991, the last 469 long-term MPs in the National Assembly gave up their seats. A further 84 delegates, who had been elected for 6 years in the so-called supplementary election in December 1986, remained in office beyond the current election and only left when their legislature expired in December 1992. Of these 84 MPs, 64 belonged to the KMT and 9 to the DPP.

Election mode

The new National Assembly to be elected comprised only 325 members, of which 219 were elected in 58 multi-person constituencies according to the system of non-transferable individual voting. A further 100 seats were allocated via national party lists, according to the national party's share of the vote. A 5 percent threshold was applied . These 100 MPs were formally considered to represent mainland China (80 MPs) or the “Chinese Abroad” (20 delegates). 6 MPs were elected by the indigenous population, including 3 from the plains and 3 from the mountainous people. This new voting mode was not without controversy. The opposition saw the KMT at an advantage due to the large increase in the number of constituencies compared to previous elections, as it had a much more extensive party organization at the local level. On the other hand, the opposition would have preferred a system of two votes instead of one, in order to separate the choice of persons (in which the KMT seemed to have an advantage) from the choice of parties (in which the DPP believed it had an advantage). The small opposition parties were against the 5 percent threshold and the KMT was ready to lower it to 3 percent, which the DPP spoke out against. This brought the DPP the charge of pursuing a pure policy of its own power interests.

Election campaign

The protagonists, the KMT and the DPP, attached great importance to the voting decision. Prime Minister Hau Pei-tsun (KMT) described the election in an address to business leaders as "more important than any other election we have ever had before" and as a decision about "life and death, and the security or threat to the nation" (he the term “nation” referred not only to Taiwan but also to mainland China). The opposition DPP made the sovereignty of Taiwan, ie the official abandonment of the claim to reunification with the mainland, its main topic and stylized the election as a referendum on the "independence of Taiwan". In doing so, the opposition had to walk a fine legal line and could not advertise this goal quite openly, since under current law propaganda for the "separation of Taiwan from China" was punishable. However, this ban was only handled very loosely and only occasionally enforced under criminal law.

A total of 627 candidates applied for the 225 constituency mandates, who were nominated by 16 of the 62 registered political parties and the recently founded National Democratic Alliance of the Non- Party (NDNPA, 全國 民主 非 政黨 聯盟 ). The KMT presented the most candidates with 304 people, followed by the DPP with 144 candidates. 179 candidates belonged to other parties or were non-party.

Results

Votes nationwide

Party with the highest percentage of votes by constituency KMT DPP NDNPA




Party with the most elected candidates by constituency KMT


Entire election result in hexagonal representation

100 seats were distributed on nationwide lists according to the parties' share of the votes. A 5 percent threshold was applied.

Political party		be right		Seats
		number	%
	Kuomintang ( 中國 國民黨 , KMT)	6,053,366	69.1%	75
	Democratic Progressive Party ( 民主 進步 黨 , DPP)	2,036,271	23.3%	25th
	National Democratic Alliance of the Non- Party ( 全國 民主 非 政黨 聯盟 , NDNPA)	193.234	2.2%	0
	Democratic Socialist Party ( 中華 社會 民主黨 , CSDP)	185,515	2.1%	0
	Worker's Party ( 勞動 黨 , Worker's Party )	18.008	0.2%	0
	Labor Party ( 工黨 , Labor Party )	7,698	0.1%	0
	Peasant Party ( 農民 黨 , Peasant Party )	4,268	0.0%	0
	Young China Party ( 中國 青年 黨 , Chinese Youth Party )	1,573	0.0%	0
	National Revival Party ( 中國 復興黨 )	1,189	0.0%	0
	Party of Democratic Socialism ( 中國 民主 社會 黨 , CDSP)	1,125	0.0%	0
	United Party of Veterans ( 中國 老兵 統一 黨 )	910	0.0%	0
	Democratic Constitutional Party ( 中國 民主 憲政 黨 )	695	0.0%	0
	Republican Party ( 中國 共和黨 )	572	0.0%	0
	Welfare party ( 中華 全民 福利 黨 )	530	0.0%	0
	Zhongxing Party ( 中興 黨 )	430	0.0%	0
	Loyalist Party ( 中國 忠義 黨 , Chinese Loyalist Party )	276	0.0%	0
	Datong Party ( 中國 大同 民主黨 )	183	0.0%	0
	Non-party	253.032	2.9%	0
Invalid votes		179,743	-	-
total		8,758,875	100%	100

Constituency mandates

219 MPs were elected in 58 multi-person constituencies.

Political party		Mandates
		number	in %
	Kuomintang (KMT)	173	79.0%
	Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)	41	18.7%
	National Democratic Alliance of the Nonpartisans (NDNPA)	3	1.4%
	Non-party	2	0.9%
total		219	100.0%

Representatives of the indigenous people

Six seats were reserved for the indigenous population and, like the constituency delegates, were elected according to the system of non-transferable individual votes. The indigenous population of the mountainous country elected three MPs and those of the plains also three. KMT won all 6 mandates.

Composition of the elected National Assembly

Allocation of seats in the National Assembly from December 1992: KMT (254) DPP (66) NDNPA (3) Independent of party (2)





Political party		Mandates
		Nationwide	Constituency	Indigenous people	total	in %
	Kuomintang (KMT)	075	173	6th	254	078.2%
	Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)	025th	041	0	066	020.3%
	National Democratic Alliance of the Nonpartisans (NDNPA)	000	003	0	003	000.9%
	Non-party	000	002	0	002	000.6%
total		100	219	6th	325	100.0%

Assessment of the election result

The election result meant a clear victory for the Kuomintang. An election victory for the KMT was generally expected, but mostly not to this extent. The KMT won more than two-thirds of the vote and 254 of 325 seats (78.2%). By December 1992, when the MPs elected in 1986 left, 318 of 409 MPs (77.8%). The Kuomintang thus continued to have a three-quarters majority, as required for constitutional amendments, and did not have to rely on agreements with the opposition for this. With 23.3% of the votes and 66 seats (20.3%), the DPP fell well short of its expectations. Even in the last elections before the abolition of martial law (before 1987), the opposition had better results. For example, Dangwai candidates received 27.9% of the vote in the 1980 supplementary election.

Various reasons were given for the KMT's election victory. On the one hand, the effects of the electoral system made themselves felt. The DPP and the CSDP had estimated their expected share of the vote too optimistically and put up too many candidates in the constituencies, so that their votes were distributed to too many people, of whom only a few achieved the necessary quorum to be elected. On the other hand, the KMT had a much larger, well-organized and well-rehearsed party apparatus than the other parties. In August 1991 it had 1.95 million members. The KMT's policy of clientelism and voting in previous elections was still widespread. The opposition DPP was unable to openly pursue its main election target, Taiwan independence, for the reasons mentioned. The public service media were accused of being close to the government. In addition, the KMT government could point to indisputable successes. Under the far-sighted economic policy of the Kuomintang, Taiwan had grown from a poor developing country to an economic heavyweight in the past few decades. At the end of 1991, the Central Bank of China , the central bank of Taiwan, had foreign exchange reserves of US $ 82 billion - more than any other central bank in the world, and Taiwan was the fifteenth largest trading nation in the world at the time. Because the KMT itself had initiated many of the reforms that had been called for for years and decades by the Dangwai and DPP opposition, it had in a way taken the wind out of its sails. The protestant demeanor of the previous DPP MPs, some of whom did not shy away from violent clashes in the Legislative Yuan, repelled some voters. In addition, many voters were unwilling to heed the DPP's call for a declaration of independence.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Constitution of the Republic of China 1946. US-China Institute, University of Southern California, December 25, 1946, accessed September 29, 2018 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Office of the President of the Republic of China, accessed September 29, 2018 . 
3. ^ Christian Schafferer: Taiwan's party system and political culture (1945-2005) . In: Modern East Asia . tape 4 , no. 1 , 2005, p. 1-25 (English).
4. ^ ^{A b c d e} Simon Long: Taiwan's National Assembly Elections . In: The China Quarterly . No. 129 . Cambridge University Press, March 1992, pp. 216-228 , JSTOR : 654605 (English).
5. ^ ^{A b} Nicholas D. Kristof: As Free Election Comes to Taiwan, Will the End of Claims to China Follow? The New York Times, December 21, 1991, accessed October 6, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Assembly in Transition . In: Taiwan Communiqué . No. 53 , January 1992, ISSN  1027-3999 , pp. 12–13 (English, PDF ).
7. ↑ Assembly in Transition . In: Taiwan Communiqué . No. 50 , June 1991, ISSN  1027-3999 , pp. 1–4 (English, PDF ).
8. ↑ June Teufel Dreyer: Taiwan's December 1991 Election . In: World Affairs . tape 155 , no. 2 , 1992, p. 67-70 , JSTOR : 20672342 (English).
9. ^ ^{A b c} Christian Schafferer: The Power of the Ballot Box - Political Development and Election Campaigning in Taiwan . Lexington Books, Boston (Maryland) 2003, ISBN 0-7391-0481-0 , chap. 2 Elections in Postwar Taiwan, p. 47-74 (English).
10. ^ John F. Copper: Taiwan's Recent Elections: Fulfilling The Democratic Promise . In: Occasional papers / reprints series in contemporary Asian studies . tape 6 . University of Maryland, 1990, ISBN 978-0-925153-12-8 , Appendix IV: Election Statistics, pp. 157 (English).