Taiwan Election/Referendum, March 20, 2004

Top Stories

By the narrowest of margins, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien of the Democratic Progressive Party were reelected for a four-year term. Chen and Lu outpolled the "pan-blue" Kuomintang and People First Party coalition ticket of Lien Chan and James C.Y. Soong.

Eligible Voters

16,507,179

Total Number of Ballots Distributed

13,252,490

Ballots Distributed/Not Cast

771

 

Total Number of Votes Cast

13,251,719

Chen Shui-bian

6,471,970

48.84%

Lien Chan

6,442,452

48.62%

Invalidated Ballots

337,297

2.55%

Margin of Victory

29,518

0.24%

A slightly smaller share of the eligible electorate turned out to vote in this election than in 2000. In 2000, 82.7% of eligible voters cast ballots. This year, 80.3% voted.

 

Click here to download high resolution chart and table.  

Download a high-resolution chart and table showing the results of the presidential balloting. 16 kb

  

The map above shows cities and counties where either the pan-blue or pan-green coalitions received more than 50% of the votes cast.

Download a chart showing county/city results and a map showing regional voting patterns. 156 kb

 

Political Poster Art

The campaign was bitterly fought. Some on the Pan-Blue side likened Chen to Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. In the post-election turmoil, some anti-Chen protestors again drew upon these images in preparing signs for the international media. See a sample of these materials.

March 19 shooting

Lien Chan and some of his supporters have argued that the March 19 shooting of Chen and Lu and perhaps other factors distorted the vote. Lien was quoted by the Taipei Times and other publications as saying, "It was an unfair election. Therefore, we will file a lawsuit against the election result. We demand the CEC seal all ballot boxes nationwide immediately and wait for the authorities to recount the ballots."

In 2000, Chen received 39% of the vote, Soong received 37%, and Lien received 23%.

Referendum

Voters were also asked to answer yes or no to the following two questions:

1. The People of Taiwan demand that the Taiwan Strait issue be resolved through peaceful means. Should Mainland China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force against us, would you agree that the Government should acquire more advanced anti-missile weapons to strengthen Taiwan's self-defense capabilities?

2. Would you agree that our Government should engage in negotiation with Mainland China on the establishment of a "peace and stability" framework for cross-strait interactions in order to build consensus and for the welfare of the peoples on both sides?

For either referendum to be valid, more than 50% of eligible voters needed to cast ballots. More than seven million votes were cast on both referendum, but this amounted to just over 45% of the potential electorate. Despite the overwhelming support of those casting ballots (over 80% voted "agree"), neither measure passed.

Voters from the US

Many thousands of Taiwan citizens returned to Taiwan from the United States (and elsewhere) to vote in the election. The Los Angeles Times reported that perhaps 7,000 Southern California residents flew to Taiwan to participate. The same Times article by William Wan noted that Taiwan's China Airlines had brought 10,000 people to Taiwan from the US so they could vote.

Taiwanese Political Parties

Other Sources for News and Views