2000 Taiwanese presidential election

2000 Taiwanese presidential election

← 1996 18 March 2000 (2000-03-18) 2004 →
Registered	15,462,625
Turnout	82.69% (6.65pp)
Nominee Chen Shui-bian James Soong Lien Chan Party DPP Independent Kuomintang Running mate Annette Lu Chang Chau-hsiung Vincent Siew Popular vote 4,977,697 4,664,972 2,925,513 Percentage 39.30% 36.84% 23.10%
Results by county-level units Results by township-level units
President before election Lee Teng-hui Kuomintang Elected President Chen Shui-bian DPP

Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 18 March 2000 to elect the president and vice president. With a voter turnout of 83%, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were elected president and vice president respectively with a slight plurality.

This election ended more than half a century of Kuomintang (KMT) rule on the island, during which it had governed as a one-party state since the retreat of the government from the Chinese mainland during the closing stages of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. This was also the first time in Chinese history that a ruling political party peacefully transferred power to an opposition party under a democratic system. The nominees included the then-current vice president Lien Chan for the KMT, former provincial governor James Soong as an independent candidate (upon his loss of the KMT nomination), and former Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian for the DPP.

Controversy arose throughout the course of the election; in particular, the candidacy of James Soong was beset by accusations of splitting the Kuomintang vote and involvement in corruption during the presidency of Lee Teng-hui, culminating in protests and the expulsion of the latter from the Kuomintang, while Chen's campaign attracted criticism from neighboring China due to his party's traditionally pro-independence stance. The issues of corruption and cross-strait relations were dominant during this election.^[1] Chen's victory was initially seen as unlikely, but several compounded effects like the splitting of the Kuomintang vote and the aforementioned controversies are seen as having led to his victory. Chen performed most strongly in the southern part of Taiwan, while Soong tended to win in northern areas.