Republic of China presidential election, 2008 videos and info

This was the fourth direct election for the President of the Republic of China. The two candidates were DPP candidate Frank Hsieh and Kuomintang (KMT) nominee Ma Ying-jeou. The KMT ticket was officially formed as of June 23, 2007, with Ma announcing his choice for running mate to be former premier Vincent Siew. The DPP ticket was announced in August, 2007, with Frank Hsieh selecting former Premier Su Tseng-chang. Unlike the 2004 presidential election, the political rhetoric of the campaigns tended to focus on economic issues and government corruption rather than national identity and the political status of Taiwan, with both candidates endorsing the status quo in the short term.^[4]. But much like previous elections, this election was also marked with island-wide mass rallies and much political mudslinging.

The KMT ticket received a larger percentage and more votes than any other candidate in the previous three direct presidential elections. The election occurred as incumbent President Chen Shui-bian's popularity remained at record lows following mass rallies in September 2006 urging him to resign amid implications of corruption. Amid general economic malaise, as unemployment had risen under Chen's presidency and Taiwan's overall GDP was surpassed by that of South Korea, Ma won on a platform of economic revitalization and a promise to improve cross-straits relations, in contrast to Chen's confrontational style, as "a peacemaker not a troublemaker".^[5]. The election occurred in the wake of the KMT's landslide victory in the 2008 legislative elections in which the Pan-Blue Coalition won a three-quarters majority in the Legislative Yuan. On the same day two referenda on joining the United Nations, the first supported by the DPP of President Chen and the second supported by the KMT, failed due to low turnout. Prior to the vote, the KMT had encouraged its supporters to boycott the DPP referendum, and expressed its "understanding" if supporters boycotted both.

Presidential nominees

Candidates were to register with their respective parties March 5-9, 2007, for a primary election. Selection of candidates for President in the Republic of China, unlike most other nations, were weighed.^[vague] The actual primary election results accounted for 30% of the final outcome while public opinion polls accounted for the other 70%. Final tallies were announced May 30, 2007.^[6]

Kuomintang

Following the KMT's defeat in 2004 and before the 2005 KMT chairman election, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng were both considered leading candidates for the nomination. Ma's landslide victory over Wang in the 2005 KMT chairman election immediately made him the frontrunner. His position was furthered bolstered by the KMT's victories in the 2005 3-in-1 local elections. Ma Ying-jeou began his campaign before his announcement for candidacy, taking trips Europe and Japan in 2006, nominally to obtain business deals for Taipei, but covered widely by the media for his foreign policy remarks. He met with numerous politicians in Washington, DC, including U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick. Significantly, Ma Ying-jeou became the first head of a pan-Blue coalition party to state that declaring de jure Taiwanese independence was a legitimate choice of the Taiwanese people, though he qualified it saying that this was not a position of the KMT, after receiving much criticism from pan-Blue politicians. He also stated that Taiwan should form a common market with mainland China and establish direct transportation links.

On February 13, 2007 Ma was indicted for misuse of official funds as Taipei Mayor and announced his candidacy as he resigned the KMT chairmanship. He was formally nominated as the KMT candidate in May 2, 2007. Wang did not run against Ma and Ma was virtually unopposed. Final approval of the nomination was passed by the KMT congress in June.^[7]. Wang was an early frontrunner to be Ma's running-mate but declined the position absent of assurances from Ma of what responsibilities he would hold as vice president. Other leading candidates were Wu Tun-yi, incumbent KMT general secretary; Jason Lin, CEO of Uni-President Group; and Tsai Ing-wen, a DPP member and former vice-premier.^[8]On June 23, 2007, Ma officially announced former premier and former vice-presidential candidate (in 2000) Vincent Siew as his running mate, praising Siew's economic experience and declaring the economy to be the central focus of his campaign.^[9]

Neither the New Party nor the People First Party, junior partners of the KMT in the "Pan-Blue Coalition," fielded a candidate and endorsed the KMT ticket. PFP Chairman James Soong appeared at KMT headquarters once Ma's victory became apparent and pledged to dissolve the PFP to join the KMT.

Democratic Progressive Party

Leading candidates for the Democratic Progressive Party "Four Heavenly Kings" (a less literal translation in English that perhaps gives the meaning more clearly is the "Four Heavyweights") sans incumbent President Chen Shui-bian (who was barred from running due to term limits)—Frank Hsieh, Su Tseng-chang, and Yu Shyi-kun—and incumbent vice president Annette Lu. All three of the men had served as premier under Chen Shui-bian and as DPP chairman during part of the Chen presidency. In addition, Hsieh has been a popular mayor of Kaohsiung, Su has been county magistrate of Taipei County and Pingtung County, and Yu served as Secretary-General in the Office of the President.

On May 6, 2007, the DPP primaries took place in all 24 cities and counties in Taiwan. There were 254,963 eligible voters, with voter turnout at 56.06%.^[10]. Former premier Frank Hsieh emerged as the winner of the DPP primaries, winning 17 of 24 cities and counties with 62,849 votes, about 44% of the votes cast.^[11] Despite the fact that the primary results only account for 30% of the final outcome in determining the nominee, fellow DPP candidates Su, who got 46,994 votes; Yu, with 22,211 votes; and Lu with 8,666 votes, endorsed Hsieh before the second stage primary, based on opinion polls, was held, causing the DPP to cancel the second stage primary.^[12].

The junior partner in the pan-green coalition, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, neither fielded nor endorsed a candidate. TSU Chairman Shu Chin-Chiang seemingly endorsed Ma on September 19, 2007 when he referred to Ma as "our President-to-be." At the same time, several TSU legislators stated that they would support DPP candidate Frank Hsieh.^[13] In December, Lee Teng-hui, considered the "spiritual leader" of the TSU, rescinded his support of Chen in 2004, and urged citizens against voting for the DPP in upcoming legislative elections. While Lee openly denounced supporting the ruling DPP party, he stopped short of endorsing any party or candidate and waited until March 20, 2008 (two days before the election) to endorse Hsieh.^[14]

Issues

The Economy

Since selecting Vincent Siew as his running mate, Ma Ying-jeou has announced that the focus of his election campaign is the recovery of Taiwanese economy. He has said that the independence—reunification debate is a "fake issue" with no bearing on the general welfare of the Taiwanese people. He also labeled Siew as the would-be "chief architect" to revive the economy, because of Siew's solid economic background.

Corruption

The investigations into alleged misuse of funds by members of both the KMT and DPP is another hot topic.

The KMT attempted to capitalize on Ma's trustworthy image, which stemed from his investigations into vote-buying within his own party while he served as Justice Minister in the early 90s. Ma was removed as Justice Minister and in the mid-1990s his political career was considered to be over due to what some thought was his zealous investigation of corruption. However, Ma Ying-Jeou was indicted on charges of misusing his Mayoral funds, and the First Lady has been indicted for embezzling from a national account (President Chen is immune from any charges as the law gives a sitting president immunity). DPP candidate Frank Hsieh is under investigation for similar charges as Ma in irregularity and misuse of funds while he served as mayor of Kaohsiung. In addition, President Chen Shui-Bian suffered a large loss in popularity due to corruption allegations concerning his family.

The funds that Ma was accused of misusing are those belonging to a special account intended for funding personal expenses related to official duties. Ma moved half of the funds of those accounts into his personal accounts, and his defense was that this practice was standard among government officials include both KMT and DPP officials, including Frank Hsieh.

However, different from Ma, Frank Hsieh has stated that if he is found guilty in his Mayoral funds case, he will not continue running as a candidate for president. Ma has maintained his innocence and has stated that he will not give up his run for presidency even if found guilty. Ma, on August 12, 2007, was found not guilty on his special funds case, clearing his name of corruption charges.^[15]

Status of Taiwan

As is common with Taiwanese elections, an important issue in the election was the future of the political status of Taiwan and maintaining good cross-straits relations. In general, the DPP favors Taiwan independence; the KMT on the other hand, is willing to accept the one-China principle and believes that Taiwan will eventually unify with mainland China; however the KMT still regards ROC as the sole legitimate government of China. The KMT's main objective is to establish a closer economic relationship with mainland China. Unlike the DPP, it is much more flexible in terms of diplomatic rhetoric. It was widely recognized that no candidate could win without supporting the status quo of de facto autonomy and ambiguous legal status (as they did in 2004) in order to attract centrist voters. Also, in 2004, both mainstream candidates recognized eventual unification and independence as a possible option as a means to attract the center. The strategy of both sides, as was the case in 2004, was to persuade voters that it can best maintain the status quo and protect Taiwan from an invasion by the People's Republic of China.

While the smaller, more radical TSU favors immediate moves to rename the country as Republic of Taiwan, the much more mainstream DPP under Chen Shui-bian has taken a more moderate position regarding independence. At the same time the Chen administration has moved to promote a separate Taiwanese identity and give official recognition to Taiwan's de facto independence from the mainland such as by equating Taiwan with the Republic of China. The front-runners for the DPP nomination are all considered moderates like Chen Shui-bian.

The KMT party line is against one country, two systems, but is supporting dialogue with the Communist Party of China under the "1992 Consensus" which presumes one China, different interpretations. During the campaign, Ma articulated a three noes policy, no independence, no unification, no use of force. He has also stated that during his first term of office, he will not discuss unification, make no changes to the ROC constitution, and will not personally meet Hu Jintao.

The DPP, in contrast, opposes recognizing One China (a prerequisite set by the PRC for negotiations), and no talks have occurred under the Chen administration. The DPP also denies that there ever was a consensus in 1992. The KMT also supports immediately opening up the three links with mainland China. The DPP has been reluctant to implement this, with additional difficulty coming from the PRC's refusal to negotiate unless the Taiwanese counterparty accepts the one-China principle under the 1992 consensus.

Constitutional reform

President Chen Shui-bian had pledged in his second inaugural address to draft a new constitution by 2006 to take effect upon the inauguration of the 12th-term president in 2008. This is opposed by the Pan-Blue Coalition, which seeks only changes through amendments to the existing document. A constitutional reform package was passed in 2005 with cross-party support, while the "Constitutional Reform Committee" proposed by President Chen to draft the new Constitution has never been formed. It appears, that with Pan-Blue controlling the Legislative Yuan until at least 2012 (commanding a 75% majority beginning February 2008, following the 2008 legislative election) and few actions being taken by the president for drafting a new Constitution, there will be no new Constitution for 2008.

Use of the "Taiwan" name

Recently, some state-controlled and state-owned firms have restored or added "Taiwan" to their names, such as renaming Chunghwa Post to Taiwan Post, the name it bore into the ROC period of rule on Taiwan; and Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, its originally planned name. The naming controversy of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the legality of the Central Government's name-change order is another topic of heated debate. Conservative observers tend to view the name changes as signs of reactionary desinicization carried out by President Chen to appease his base supporters, while others view the name changing as signs of Taiwan localization movement carving an identity for Taiwan's name. The issue is, like most others, split strongly between Pan-Blue and Pan-Green supporters.

President-Elect Ma Ying-jeou has pledged that he will revert the name changes of national landmarks, government organizations, and government-owned corporations conducted by the Chen Shui-bian administration. The Pan-Blue generally considered these name changes to be illegal because they were done through administrative orders bypassing the Pan-Blue dominated legislature. Examples of landmarks and organizations that were renamed include Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Chinese Petroleum Company, China Shipbuilding Corporation, and Chunghwa Post.

Green card issue

A recent issue that has been brought into the presidential campaign is the questioning of Ma Ying-jeou's loyalty to the Republic of China and to the people of Taiwan by his opponent Frank Hsieh and the Democratic Progressive Party legislators.^[16]^[17] Hsieh stated that Ma would not have become former President Chiang Ching-kuo's English secretary in 1977 if Chiang had known that Ma was in possession of a green card and his status as a US permanent resident.^[17]

Ma Ying-Jeou at first denied that he has a green card^{[dubious – discuss]}, however, he later admitted that he once possessed one.^[18] He also stated that he had not violated any law by possessing a US green card and that he never intended to hide the fact he was once a US permanent resident. He also maintained that possession of a green card, as well as having the status as a US permanent resident, was not against any government regulations at the time.^[16] Ma also stated that he believed that his green card was automatically invalid when he applied for a US visa at the American Institute in Taiwan in 1985.^[17] Hsieh's questioning of Ma Ying-jeou's loyalty to the Republic of China and to the people of Taiwan continued when he stated that several of Ma's family members carried US passports and citizenship, including Ma's US born daughter.^[17] Ma's response was that

Two TVBS political opinion poll conducted after Hsieh released his statement showed a slight dip in Ma Ying-jeou's support, but was well within the margin of error.^[16]^[19]

Hsieh office incident

Four pan-blue legislators attempted to enter the Hsieh election headquarters without permission, with the reason that they were there to investigate the claim that the government provided them office space for free. Hsieh's supporters surrounded them and blocked them as they tried to leave; fighting broke out. The pan-green called it an illegal search and said the pan-blue camp will carry out further similar actions if they controlled both the executive and legislature.

The legislators were labeled the "Four Idiots"(四個笨蛋) by the media and suspended from the party. Ma apologized for their actions on six separate occasions.

It is illegal to publish opinion polls in the ten days leading up to the election, but gambling syndicates changed their offering to "Ma wins by 200,000 votes" bets, down from "Ma wins by 500,000 votes" bets before the incident.^{[citation needed]}

Chuang Guo-rong's profanity incident

On March 16, 2008, standing for DPP candidate Frank Hsieh at a rally in Taichung, Chuang Kuo-jung, a deputy secretary for the Department of Education, called Ma Ying-jeou a "chicken" and further insulted his father and family. He mentioned a recent discovery by a magazine investigation that Ma's father Ma Ho-ling was proven to have slept with his foster daughter in the past. This drew the wrath of the Taiwanese public. With more investigations by Taiwanese broadcasting channels, the claims were deemed fake. DPP officials felt that the wording used by Chuang was insulting and inappropriate, and therefore, publicly apologized for Chuang's uncalled for and profane remarks. His speech was ridden with distaste and foul language deemed inappropriate for broadcast television, and had to be censored by NCC. Chuang initially resigned from his post as secretary of the Ministry of Education without an apology. Minister Tu accepted the resignations, after reservations. The next day, Chuang issued a formal apology through media.

Chuang's behavior has consequences affecting his teaching position at the National Chengchi University. As of June 19, 2008 ^[20], the faculty panel has decided not to renew his teaching contract for the following school year.

Impact of unrest in Tibet

In mid-March, 2008, a series of riots occurred in Tibetan areas of mainland China. This, and the subsequent response of the Beijing authorities had repercussions in the lead-up to the Taiwan election. A series of public prayers, organised by Buddhist leaders, were held in Taiwan. Frank Hsieh attended the event in person, and Ma Ying-Jeou sent representatives to attend the event. The next day, Ma Ying-Jeou was attacked by the pan-Green and pro-Tibetan camps for not having a solid stance for supporting Tibetan autonomy.^{[citation needed]}

Ma Ying-jeou was initially quoted as saying that "[i]t is still unknown who is responsible for the bloodshed in Tibet, the Chinese government or the Tibetans."^{[citation needed]} After media furore built up over the comments, Ma Ying-Jeou retracted his earlier statements. He made further statements, going further than Frank Hsieh in criticizing the mainland government. He stated that if violence in Tibet continues, he could not rule out a Taiwanese boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Frank Hsieh refused to make the same commitment, and accused Ma of jeopardizing the hopes of the Chinese Taipei team.

Tens of thousands of Taiwanese waved banners and shouted political slogans March 16, 2008, as the island's rival parties rallied support ahead of the March 22, 2008 presidential elections, with the March 2008 violence in Tibet in the background and Taiwan's own relations with the Chinese mainland on the front burner. The Taiwan-wide events were meant to energize supporters in the home stretch of a race that has so far lacked the passion and commitment of presidential elections in 2000 and 2004.^[21]

Opinion polling

Opinion polls were held by various news agencies and organizations in Taiwan during the election campaign. Before the election, the last of such polls was published on March 11, 2008 because, according to ROC law, opinion polls could not be published within ten days of the election. However, polls can still be taken during the ten days.

Republic of China law also prohibits the publishing of any new opinion polling data in the last ten days leading up to the election.

† Numbers published by Global Views are calculated from a campaign indicator model.

Mechanics

The election was by direct popular vote; a simple plurality was required to win. According to the Constitution of the Republic of China, all citizens of the Republic of China of at least 20 years of age who have held household registration in the "Free Area of the Republic of China" (Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, etc.) were eligible to vote. Under existing law, all voters travelled to their registered precincts to vote.^[24] Ballots were counted by hand at the precincts and the KMT declared victory less than three hours after the close of polls at 4:00 pm.

Because of KMT strategy of having people boycott the referendum, one major controversy, like in 2004 was the format of the polling, specifically as whether the referendum questions would be on the same or different ballots as the Presidency. While in 2004 the CEC allowed U shaped line in which people would first cast a ballot for President and then cast a separate ballot for each of the two questions, the CEC forced voters to cast all votes at once on separate ballots. Voters who choose not to cast a referendum ballot simply declined to pick up the extra two ballots.

Election results

Polls closed at 16:00 local time (UTC+8) on March 22, 2008. The end result, with all 14,401 precincts reporting, shows a landslide victory for the KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou over the DPP candidate Frank Hsieh, with 7,658,724 votes, 58.45% of the popular vote for Ma against 5,445,239 votes, 41.33% for Hsieh. Turnout was 76.33%, with 13.2 million votes from 17.3 million eligible voters.^[25] The CEC has released the final results with 100% of precincts reporting. Taiwan voters overwhelmingly elected Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou to be president, and the primary concern may be more economic than political: One local media commentator quoted Bill Clinton's famous slogan, "It's the economy, stupid", as an explanation of the landslide victory for Ma.^[26] There is also a sizeable number of Taiwanese who would prefer maintaining the status quo, a position favoured by Ma when he proclaimed that he would "not push for Taiwan independence or reunification with China if elected"^[27].

Results by county

Reactions

Domestic reactions

In various KMT headquarters throughout Taiwan, celebrations of the party's landslide victory took place. The largest event was located at the Main KMT Headquarters in Taipei. Former Chairman Lien Chan, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, Chairman Wu Po-hsiung were presented and celebrated with the large crowd. At 7:30 pm, Presidential-elect Ma Ying-jeou came out and spoke about what is expected of his new government when it begins office on May 20, 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Many DPP supporters were very disappointed with the results of the election. Various DPP members went on stage at the Central Headquarters in Taipei and apologised to the Taiwanese people. Runner-up Presidential candidate Frank Hsieh spoke about how even though they have lost the elections, they still have a job to do: to preserve democracy in Taiwan. They ended the day by bowing down to the crowd.^[28]

After a press conference on March 23 where Ma stated that he will work to open up the Three Links and improve cross-strait relations, Taiwan's stock market saw a large rise. The accumulated index jumped 534 points to 9049. 1100 listed companies saw their share prices rise. Of these, financial stocks all rose to trading limit levels, with transportation companies, speculated to benefit from improved relations with mainland China, also quickly reaching price rise limits. Other sectors that saw strong rises include large conglomerates, real property, electronics and technology.^[29]

PRC reactions

Consistently with its silence before the election, the PRC government refrained from commenting directly on the election results, and PRC media, which follows instructions on reporting from the government, has been very quiet as to the result of the elections.^{[citation needed]} Also consistently with its behaviour before the election, the Taiwan Affairs Bureau of the State Council of the People's Republic of China commented on the failure of the two United Nations-related referenda held concurrently with the election, stating that the results showed the lack of popular support for independence in Taiwan. The Bureau also expressed optimism for the two governments to work together to maintain cross-strait peace and aid development in future.^[30] It is speculated that the mainland government would be pleased with the result.^[31]

While also refraining from commenting directly on the results, the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China prominently displayed the election results, including the photos and brief biographies of the winning candidates, on its website.^[32] This, speculated Hong Kong's Ming Pao, showed signs of positive interaction between the two governments in future.^[33]

Other reactions

Singapore was the first country to send official congratulatory messages about the election results^[34]. It has since been the only country to do so together with the United States. China has thus far not responded to these messages.

Most other countries chose to issue general statements without specifically congratulating anyone:

Diemazz

Contents