1997–98 Taiwanese local elections

29 November 1997 (1997-11-29) 5 December 1998 (1998-12-05)
All 25 mayors/magistrates of special municipalities, cities, counties
First party Second party   Leader Lin Yi-hsiung Lee Teng-hui Party DPP Kuomintang Leader since 18 July 1998 27 January 1988 Mayors/ Magistrates 13 9 Change 6 7

Local elections of Taiwan were held in 1997 and 1998 to elect magistrates of counties and mayors of cities on 29 November 1997, and mayors and councillors of special municipalities on 5 December 1998.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won in the 1997 election, controlling majority of mayors/magistrates across the country and winning more popular votes than the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) for the first time.^[1] While the two polls were seen as confidence votes of President Lee Teng-hui, they marked the beginning of the historic peaceful transition of power which would occur in 2000.

Counties and cities

Election results for counties and cities

During the election rally, President Lee endorsed Kuomintang candidate Kente Chen in Taoyuan magisterial election. Lee, who is also chairman of the Kuomintang, claimed he has been a registered voter in Taoyuan for years instead of Taipei. It was later rebuked by Chen Shui-bian, mayor of Taipei, that he was still registered as Taipei resident. Chen further slammed Lee as "senile" for not knowing his residence, suggesting Lee should get an elderly chain so not to get lost. Kuomintang seniors in response denounced Chen's comments.

The DPP successfully flipped in six counties/cities, including Keelung City, Hsinchu City, Taichung City, Taichung County, Tainan City, and Pingtung County, but defeated in Penghu County.^[2] Incumbent magistrate of Miaoli County from the KMT was defeated by independent candidate.

Turnout of the election is 65.92%, with 7,784,908 voting out of 11,809,277 registered electorates.

Special municipalities

Election results for special municipalities

Elections for mayors and councillors of special municipalities Taipei and Kaohsiung were held on 5 December 1998. The nail-biting election resulted in both incumbents defeated with a narrow margin, including an unexpected victory for the DPP in Kaohsiung.

Taipei

Taipei mayoral election result by districts

  Districts led by Ma Ying-jeou

  Districts led by Chen Shui-bian

Chen Shui-bian of the DPP seek a second four-year term with a high popularity of 80%, while the KMT nominated Ma Ying-jeou, ex-Minister of Justice who earlier declined to run in the mayoral election. Ma eventually beat Chen by around 0.6% of votes. Analysts believed tactical voting by supporters of New Party contributed to the KMT's win,^[3] in addition to the discontent with Chen's aggressive policies.

1998 Taipei mayoral election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Ma Ying-jeou	Kuomintang	766,377	51.13
	Chen Shui-bian	Democratic Progressive Party	688,072	45.91
	Wang Chien-shien	New Party	44,452	2.97
Total			1,498,901	100.00
Valid votes			1,498,901	99.16
Invalid/blank votes			12,734	0.84
Total votes			1,511,635	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,868,860	80.89

1998 Taipei City Council election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Kuomintang	589,907	40.08	23	+3
	Democratic Progressive Party	455,613	30.96	19	+4
	New Party	273,195	18.56	9	-2
	New Nation Alliance	27,282	1.85	0	–
	Green Party Taiwan	22,274	1.51	0	–
	Taiwan Independence Party	9,633	0.65	0	–
	Chinese Woman's Party	923	0.06	0	–
	Independents	92,966	6.32	1	-5
Total		1,471,793	100.00	52	–
Valid votes		1,471,793	97.61
Invalid/blank votes		36,051	2.39
Total votes		1,507,844	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,864,314	80.88

Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung mayoral election result by districts

  Districts led by Wu Den-yih

  Districts led by Frank Hsieh

Following the defeat in vice-presidential election, Frank Hsieh of the DPP started considering running in Kaohsiung mayoral election. In 1997, Chen Che-nan, Hsieh's party colleague decided not to run against Hsieh in the party primary for the Kaohsiung poll, reportedly after an intervention by Taipei Mayor Chen who later promoted him as secretary-general of Taipei Government.^[4]

On the other hand, incumbent Wu Den-yih from the KMT faced small-scale rebellion from local party branch after former Kaohsiung mayor Wang Yu-yun criticised Wu for being ungrateful.^[5] In the run-up of the election, an ex-secretary of Wu published a recording tape, claiming Wu had an affairs with a reporter. Despite found to be fake after the election, the incident nevertheless damaged Wu's popularity.

During the campaign, Wu attacked Hsieh for "inhumane" after he agreed to be defence attorney for the murderer of Pai Hsiao-yen, hoping to persuade his surrender. The personal attack was said to have further pushed for Hsieh's victory.^[4]

1998 Kaohsiung mayoral election

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Frank Hsieh	Democratic Progressive Party	387,797	48.71
	Wu Den-yih	Kuomintang	383,232	48.13
	Cheng Te-yao	Independent	18,699	2.35
	Wu Chien-kuo	New Party	6,457	0.81
Total			796,185	100.00
Valid votes			796,185	98.54
Invalid/blank votes			11,811	1.46
Total votes			807,996	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,004,872	80.41

1998 Kaohsiung City Council election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Kuomintang	357,163	45.18	25	+2
	Democratic Progressive Party	211,954	26.81	9	-2
	New Party	30,363	3.84	1	-1
	Taiwan Independence Party	14,707	1.86	0	–
	Independents	176,308	22.30	9	+1
Total		790,495	100.00	44	–
Valid votes		790,495	98.02
Invalid/blank votes		15,996	1.98
Total votes		806,491	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,002,480	80.45

References