Election to the National Assembly of the Republic of China in 1996

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National Assembly 19962005 →

(Voter turnout 76.2%)

 %

70

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

49.7

29.9

13.7

1.1

0.2

5.5

KMT

DPP

Xindg ^c

Green ^d

Otherwise.

Independent

Gains and losses

compared to

 % p

 14th

 12

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

-12

-14

-16

-18

-20

-19.4

+6.6

+13.7

+1.1

-4.6

+2.6

KMT

DPP

Xindg ^c

Green ^d

Otherwise.

Independent

Remarks:

^c The Xindang ("New Party") was founded in 1993.

^d The Taiwan Green Party was established on January 25, 1996.

The 1996 election for the National Assembly of the Republic of China took place on March 23. It was the third election of a national assembly in the Republic of China since the end of the Second World War. The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) remained the strongest party despite significant losses. The presidential election was held on the same day .

prehistory

The previous election to the National Assembly took place in 1991 and was very clearly won by the ruling Kuomintang. The KMT won a three-quarters majority of the seats, which enabled them to implement constitutional amendments without the involvement of the opposition. The opposition feared that the Kuomintang could use its power to stop or even reverse the process of democratization that had started. However, this did not happen and under the aegis of President Lee Teng-hui (KMT) the government continued the reform program that had been initiated.

The question of the mode of presidential election developed into a point of contention. According to the previous constitution, the president was elected by the National Assembly every six years. The opposition, and at its head the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has long been demanding the introduction of direct election of the president by the people. This demand was also taken up by the New KMT Alliance , a “reformist” group within the Kuomintang, which included Lin Yang-kang , James Soong , Lien Chan and Wu Poh-hsiung . However, no agreement was reached within the KMT, so the matter was referred to the National Assembly. A related meeting of the National Assembly from March 20 to May 30, 1992 initially ended without result. Under public pressure, the National Assembly then passed a constitutional amendment on May 2, 1994, which would introduce future direct elections for the president, beginning in 1996. With this constitutional amendment, the National Assembly also lost one of its two tasks (the other task was constitutional amendments).

The day of the presidential election was set on the same day as the election of the National Assembly.

Election campaign

The election campaign overlapped very much with the election campaign for the presidential election and was largely overshadowed by this. Election campaign events for the candidates for the National Assembly met with only moderate interest from voters. The incumbent President Lee Teng-hui, who ran again for the office of president, knew how to present himself as a Kuomintang candidate on the one hand, but also as a reformer on the other, so that he seemed eligible for some of the KMT opponents . On the other hand, there was considerable distrust of Lee in the conservative wing of the Kuomintang. Lee's internal party opponents speculated that in reality Lee was not clearly committed to the central Kuomintang goal of “reunification” with mainland China, but was pursuing a hidden agenda of Taiwan's independence. In 1993, part of the conservative wing (the so-called non-mainstream faction) split off from the Kuomintang and founded the Xindang , the “New Party”. The Xindang called for strict adherence to the one-China policy . On the other side of the political spectrum was the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which rejected the one-China concept and called for Taiwan's formal declaration of independence. In addition to these three major parties, there were also smaller parties running, including the Taiwanese Green Party , which was founded shortly before the election .

The entire election campaign was overshadowed by threatening gestures from the People's Republic of China, which obviously wanted to get voters to vote for pro-Chinese candidates. The high point of these threatening gestures were the ballistic missile tests that the People's Republic carried out on Formosa Street. This so-called Third Taiwan Strait Crisis lasted from July 1995 to March 1996 and led to the popularity of President Lee Teng-hui, who was able to portray himself as the keeper of Taiwan independence. The Xindang accused Lee of being unnecessarily provocative towards the People's Republic.

Election mode

As in 1991, the election took place in a mixture of proportional and majority elections. 228 MPs were elected in 58 multi-person constituencies according to the system of non-transferable individual voting. Compared to the previous election, this was 9 more MPs. Six more seats were reserved for Taiwan's indigenous people . A further 100 MPs were elected in a nationwide list election using majority voting. A five percent threshold was applied . Twenty of these MPs were formally considered to represent the Chinese outside Taiwan.

Results

Share of votes by district and city

Share of votes of the parties according to districts and cities

region	Valid votes	KMT		DPP		Xindang		Green party		Labor Party		Native American Party		Other parties / independents
		number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%	number	%
Taipei County	1,572,400	672.937	42.8	488.757	31.1	284,751	18.1	34,357	2.2	0.0	0	0.0	0	91,598	5.8
Yilan County	221,424	114.901	51.9	101,755	46.0	4768	2.1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Taoyuan County	723.056	365.209	50.5	204.973	28.4	132,832	18.4	14,314	2.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	5728	0.8
Hsinchu County	201,565	124.801	61.9	52,971	26.3	23,793	11.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Miaoli county	279.816	196.080	70.1	40.025	14.3	22,128	7.9	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	21,583	7.7
Taichung County	686.929	356.718	51.9	184,515	26.9	75,872	11.1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	69,824	10.2
Changhua County	617,662	409,690	66.3	137.920	22.3	37,541	6.1	11,474	1.9	0	0.0	0	0.0	21,037	3.4
Nantou county	257,562	134,235	52.1	72,715	28.2	30,509	11.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	20,103	7.8
Yunlin County	349.169	242,350	69.4	57,542	16.5	0	0.0	30,627	8.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	18,650	5.3
Chiayi County	264,888	186.237	70.3	67,579	25.5	5171	1.9	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	5901	2.2
Tainan County	537.586	255.995	47.6	210.765	39.2	36,190	6.7	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	34,636	6.4
Kaohsiung County	600,600	318.216	53.0	183,768	30.6	40,180	6.7	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	1.0	58,436	9.7
Pingtung County	431,385	231.009	53.5	149,880	34.7	28,416	6.6	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	22,080	5.1
Taitung County	77,414	59,217	76.5	15,064	19.5	3133	4.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Hualien County	126,809	59,940	47.3	28,293	22.3	17.198	13.6	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	21,378	16.9
Penghu Islands	39,701	23,447	59.1	9703	24.4	6551	16.5	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
City of Keelung	185,787	86,999	46.8	50,331	27.1	38,744	20.9	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	9713	5.2
Hsinchu City	172.296	98,498	57.2	50,723	29.4	19,326	11.2	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	3749	2.2
Taichung City	407.286	181,702	44.6	127.916	31.4	72,582	17.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	25,086	6.2
Chiayi city	125,865	62.206	49.4	44,586	35.4	8691	6.9	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	10,382	8.2
City of Tainan	344,586	144,517	41.9	106,726	31.0	35,523	10.3	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	57,820	16.8
Taipei city	1,330,739	432,462	32.5	467.846	35.2	375.787	28.2	23,170	1.7	0	0.0	4340	0.3	27.134	2.1
city Kaohsiung	707.065	296.181	41.9	255.058	36.1	99.221	14.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	56,605	8.0
Kinmen	20,275	9265	45.7	418	2.1	10,289	50.8	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	303	1.5
Matsu Islands	2589	1469	56.7	29	1.1	1091	42.1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Aborigines (plains)	65,145	56,066	86.1	2878	4.4	4760	7.3	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	1441	2.2
Aborigines (mountains)	78,789	60,482	76.8	0	0.0	10,849	13.8	0	0.0	7458	9.5	0	0.0	0	0.0
total	10,428,388	5,180,829	49.7	3,112,736	29.9	1,425,896	13.7	113,942	1.1	7458	0.1	4340	0.0	572.961	5.6

Other parties included the Young China Party ( 中國 青年 黨 ), which received 6197 votes nationwide (all in Kaohsiung County) and the Progressive Party ( 先進 黨 ), which received 4,029 votes nationwide (in Changhua County and Taipei and Hsinchu cities) .

Candidates and elected representatives by city and district

Parties with the highest number of votes in the nationwide election by constituency

The following table lists the candidates for the parties and non-party candidates by district and city. The color of the vertical bar indicates the party with the strongest mandate (no color = tie).

Candidates nominated and seats won by administrative unit

region	KMT		DPP		Xindang		Green party		Non-party / others		Elected in total
	number	Elected	number	Elected	number	Elected	number	Elected	number	Elected
Taipei County	22nd	16	16	9	8th	6th	5	0	8th	2	33
Yilan County	4th	2	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	5
Taoyuan County	13	8th	6th	5	5	3	2	0	2	0	16
Hsinchu County	4th	4th	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	5
Miaoli county	7th	5	2	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	6th
Taichung County	10	8th	6th	4th	4th	1	0	0	5	1	14th
Changhua County	13	9	5	4th	2	0	1	0	4th	0	13
Nantou county	5	4th	2	2	2	0	0	0	2	0	6th
Yunlin County	7th	6th	3	1	0	0	2	1	4th	0	8th
Chiayi County	5	4th	2	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	6th
Tainan County	7th	6th	6th	5	2	0	0	0	3	0	11
Kaohsiung County	12	7th	6th	4th	3	0	0	0	5	1	12
Pingtung County	7th	7th	6th	3	2	0	0	0	1	0	10
Taitung County	3	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3
Hualien County	3	2	1	1	1	1	0	0	2	0	4th
Penghu Islands	2	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
City of Keelung	3	2	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	4th
Hsinchu City	3	2	2	1	1	1	0	0	3	0	4th
Taichung City	6th	3	4th	4th	2	2	0	0	3	0	9
Chiayi city	3	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	3
City of Tainan	5	4th	4th	3	2	0	0	0	4th	1	8th
Taipei city	12	9	14th	9	10	9	3	0	11	0	27
city Kaohsiung	9	7th	9	5	3	3	0	0	8th	0	15th
Kinmen	2	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	2
Matsu Islands	2	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
Constituency election	169	123	107	68	57	31	13	1	74	5	228
Aborigines (plains)	4th	3	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3
Aborigines (mountains)	3	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3
Nationwide choice	87	54	45	31	24	15th	3	0	0	0	100
total	263	183	153	99	83	46	16	1	76	5	334

Composition of the elected National Assembly

Allocation of seats in the National Assembly from 1996: KMT (183) DPP (99) Xindang (46) Green Party (1) Independent party (5)






Political party		Mandates
		Nationwide	Constituency	Indigenous people	total	in %
	Kuomintang (KMT)	054	123	6th	183	054.8%
	Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)	031	068	0	099	029.6%
	Xindang (CNP)	015th	031	0	046	013.8%
	Taiwan Green Party	000	001	0	001	000.3%
	Non-party	000	005	0	005	001.5%
total		100	228	6th	334	100.0%

Assessment of the election result

The outcome of the election meant a clear defeat for the Kuomintang. In the last election of the National Assembly in 1991, the KMT had won 71% of the votes, so that the current election result of 49.68% corresponds to a loss of 20%. This loss of votes was largely attributed to the newly founded Xindang, which received 13.67% of the vote. The DPP won 29.85% of the vote (an increase of 6.6%) but was still below its results in the 1992 and 1995 legislative yuan elections . In addition, individual members of smaller parties and non- party members were elected, including Kao Meng-ting ( 高 孟 定 ), the first and so far (as of 2018) only member of the Taiwanese Green Party in a national parliament.

Election analysts pointed out that the sheer numbers made the KMT's defeat appear bigger than it actually was, as a number of factors had fueled the KMT's 1991 election victory. An important consequence of the election result, however, was that the KMT lost its previous super-majority in the National Assembly and was therefore only able to bring about constitutional amendments in cooperation with other political groups (this required a three-quarters majority in the National Assembly). The DPP was reluctant to make any statements about the outcome of the election, as it had won seats from 66 to 99 seats and received around 30 percent of the votes, but by its standards this was a rather average result. The Xindang was a new member of parliament, and its result was an election victory because it had a higher share of the vote than in the election of the legislative yuan in the previous year. In particular, on the offshore islands, whose residents were particularly concerned by the tensions with the People's Republic of China, the party achieved high votes.

In the following year, the changed majority structure led to increased cooperation between the KMP and the DPP in the National Assembly. In 1997, several important amendments to the constitution were passed on this basis.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Christian Schafferer: Taiwan's party system and political culture (1945-2005) . In: Modern East Asia . tape 4 , no. 1 , p. 1–25 (English, pdf ).
2. ↑ Electing the President? In: Taiwan Communiqué . No. 54 , April 1992, ISSN  1027-3999 , pp. 1–3 (English, pdf ).
3. ^ The National Assembly does it again . In: Taiwan Communiqué . No. 61 , July 1994, ISSN  1027-3999 , pp. 10–12 (English, pdf ).
4. ^ Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Office of the President of the Republic of China, accessed September 29, 2018 . 
5. ^ 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).
6. ↑ 第 03 屆 國 大 代表 選舉 政黨 得票 (3rd legislative period: election of the members of the National Assembly according to parties). (pdf) Taiwan Electoral Commission, accessed September 16, 2018 (Chinese). 
7. ↑ 第 03 屆 國民 大會 代表 選舉 政黨 席次 統計表 (Statistical table for the election of delegates to the 3rd National Assembly). (pdf) Taiwan Electoral Commission, accessed September 16, 2018 (Chinese). 
8. ^ National Assembly elections . In: Taiwan Communiqué . No. 71 , June 1996, ISSN  1027-3999 , pp. 6-7 (English, pdf ).
9. ^ John F. Copper: Taiwan's Mid-1990s Elections - Taking the Final Steps to Democracy . Praeger Publishers, Westport (Connecticut) 1998, ISBN 0-275-96207-5 , chap. 4: The 1996 Presidential, Vice-Presidential and National Assembly Elections, pp. 93-134 (English).
10. ^ John F. Copper: Taiwan's Mid-1990s Elections - Taking the Final Steps to Democracy . Praeger Publishers, Westport (Connecticut) 1998, ISBN 0-275-96207-5 , chap. 5: Conclusions, p. 141 (English).