2001 Taiwanese legislative election

The 2001 Taiwanese legislative election was held on 1 December 2001. All 225 seats of the Legislative Yuan were up for election: 168 elected by popular vote, 41 elected on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight elected from overseas Chinese constituencies on the basis of the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, eight elected by popular vote among the Taiwanese aboriginal populations. Members served three year terms from February 1, 2002 to February 1, 2005.

2001 Taiwan legislative election

1 December 2001
All 225 seats to the Legislative Yuan 113 seats are needed for a majority
Turnout	66.2%
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Frank Hsieh Lien Chan James Soong Party DPP Kuomintang People First Alliance Pan-Green Pan-Blue Pan-Blue Leader since April 20, 2000 March 20, 2000 March 31, 2000 Last election 70 seats, 29.56% 123 seats, 46.43% New party Seats won 87 68 46 Seat change 21 46 29 Popular vote 3,447,740 2,949,371 1,917,836 Percentage 36.6% 31.3% 20.3% Swing 7.0pp 15.5pp N/A   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Huang Chu-wen Hau Lung-pin Party TSU New Alliance Pan-Green Pan-Blue Leader since August 12, 2001 March 2000 Last election New party 11 seats, 7.06% Seats won 13 1 Seat change 13 8 Popular vote 801,560 269,620 Percentage 8.5% 2.6% Swing N/A N/A
Leading party and vote count by township/city and district
President before election Wang Jin-pyng Kuomintang Elected President Wang Jin-pyng Kuomintang

Background

The first national election to be held after Chen Shui-bian's victory in the 2000 presidential election, the election resulted for the first time in the Kuomintang (KMT) losing its majority and President Chen's Democratic Progressive Party to emerging as the largest party in the legislature.[1] However, the Pan-Blue Coalition developed between the Kuomintang, the People First Party and the New Party, enabled the Chinese reunificationist and conservative opposition to muster a slim majority over the pro-Taiwan independence Pan-Green Coalition formed between the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union. This resulted in much of President Chen's agenda being derailed or deadlocked for the following three years.

Overall

Political Party	Overall votes	Overall %	Local	At-large	Aboriginal	Overseas	Total seats	Change
Democratic Progressive Party^*	3,447,740	36.6%	69	15	0	3	87	+21
Kuomintang^*	2,949,371	31.3%	49	13	4	2	68	-46
People First Party^*	1,917,836	20.3%	33	9	2	2	46	+29
Taiwan Solidarity Union^*	801,560	8.5%	8	4	0	1	13	+13
New Party	269,620	2.9%	1	0	0	0	1	-8
Independent	52,342	0.4%	8	0	2	0	10	-9
Eligible voters			15,822,684
Votes cast			10,468,990 (66.2%)
Invalid votes			141,135 (01.3%)
Valid votes			10,327,855 (98.7%)
^*5% vote threshold needed for proportional seat assignment

Results

The KMT lost its majority for the first time, losing 46 seats and falling to 68 seats. The largest party had become the DPP with 87 seats, followed by the KMT, and the PFP with 46 seats. Various parties and independents held the remainder. The New Party which lost all of its seat except the one seat on Quemoy while the newly formed Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) captured 13 seats, with independents holding on to 10 seats. Overall the pan-blue opposition got 115 seats, while the government pan-green got 100 seats. The pan-blue remained majority.

Part of the KMT's loss could be attributed to defections to both the People First Party and Taiwan Solidarity Union. The People First Party formed by James Soong and his supporters after the 2000 presidential elections. Soong had been expelled from the KMT after launching an independent bid for the presidency and narrowly lost the race to Chen Shui-bian. The Taiwan Solidarity Union was formed by supporters of former President and KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui, who took the title of "spiritual leader" in the party. For this, Lee was also expelled from the KMT. Though the both offshoots of the Kuomintang, the People First Party advocated a more conservative position than the KMT while the Taiwan Solidarity Union took on a radical pro-independence stance. After Lee's expulsion, the KMT and PFP had a warming of relations and cooperated in the election. The more moderate pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party cooperated with the Taiwan Solidarity Union likewise, leading to the formation of the pan-blue and pan-green coalitions.

The KMT's loss in the election could also be attributed partly to the single non-transferable vote scheme in place. Though the DPP won 40% of the seats they only polled 36% of the vote because of the inability of the KMT, PFP, and New Party to coordinate their electoral strategies. This led to more stringent vote allocation strategies by pan-blue in 2004, which helped prevent pan-green from gaining a majority.

See also

• Elections in Taiwan

References

1. Copper, John F. Taiwan's 2001 Legislative, Magistrates and Mayors Election: Further Consolidating Democracy?.