The 2016 Taiwanese legislative election was held, along with the
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
, on 16 January 2016 for all 113 seats in the
Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...
. The
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...
(DPP) led by
Tsai Ing-wen
Tsai Ing-wen (; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician serving as president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2016. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai is the first female president of Taiwan. She served as ...
, who also won the
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
on the same day, secured a majority for the first time in history by winning 68 seats. The ruling
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT) lost both the presidency and its legislative majority and returned to the opposition.
The DPP managed to unseat the KMT in its traditional blue strongholds across Taiwan, turning districts in Taipei, Taichung and Hualien green, while KMT Vice Chairman
Hau Lung-bin
Hau Lung-pin (; born 22 August 1952) is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the New Party, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995, and resigned his seat to lead the Environmental Protection Administration in 2001. Hau stepped down ...
conceded defeat to relatively unknown city councilor
Tsai Shih-ying from the DPP, becoming one of the most notable upsets in the election. The year-old
New Power Party
The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan independenc ...
(NPP), founded by young activists in the wake of the 2014
Sunflower Movement
The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as b ...
, entered the Legislative Yuan, winning five seats from KMT veterans.
Electoral system
Members were elected by
parallel voting
Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It is ...
.
Contesting parties and candidates
The two major parties, the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party, used different strategies when nominating candidates for the Legislative Yuan elections. The Kuomintang nominated a candidate in all but one of the constituency seats. The sole exception was
Taipei 2, where they instead supported the
New Party candidate. The DPP, on the other hand, developed a cooperation strategy with several minor parties. The DPP agreed to support candidates from these parties in exchange for agreements not to stand in tight races where they might sap DPP votes. These included the
New Power Party
The New Power Party (NPP) is a political party in Taiwan formed in early 2015. The party emerged from the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014, and advocates for universal human rights, civil and political liberties, as well as Taiwan independenc ...
, the
Taiwan Solidarity Union
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) is a political party in Taiwan which advocates Taiwan independence, and is affiliated with the Taiwanese localization movement. It was officially founded on 12 August 2001 and is considered part of the Pan-Gr ...
, and the
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
-
Social Democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
Coalition, as well as several independents.
This strategy did not work in
Hsinchu
Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...
, where the NPP and DPP backed separate candidates. A total of 43 female candidates won election to the Legislative Yuan, the most ever to take office.
Opinion polls
Single and multi member districts
Proportional representation
Results
By constituency
''Source
Central Election Commission'
Results by party-list
Aftermath
Kuomintang Vice Chairman
Hau Lung-bin
Hau Lung-pin (; born 22 August 1952) is a Taiwanese politician. As a member of the New Party, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995, and resigned his seat to lead the Environmental Protection Administration in 2001. Hau stepped down ...
announced he was stepping down after his surprising defeat in the
Keelung City Constituency by relatively unknown city councillor
Tsai Shih-ying from the DPP, following the Party Chairman
Eric Chu
Eric Chu Li-luan (; born on 7 June 1961) is a Taiwanese politician. He was born into a political family with strong Kuomintang (KMT) ties, and served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China, under Premier Wu Den-yih. Prior to this, Chu served ...
resigned from the leadership after his defeat in the presidential election.
By-elections
A total of five legislative seats are scheduled to be contested in by-elections, as both the Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party drew candidates for local office from sitting legislators during the
2018 local elections. The first two by-elections are scheduled for 26 January 2019.
See also
*
2016 Kuomintang chairmanship election
*
2017 Kuomintang chairmanship election
Notes
References
External links
Government websites
Central Election Commission
{{Taiwanese elections
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
legislative election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
Legislative elections in Taiwan
January 2016 events in Asia