# 2008 Taiwanese legislative election

Legislative elections were held in Taiwan on 12 January 2008 to elect the members of the Legislative Yuan. It was the first Legislative Yuan election after the constitutional amendments of 2005, which extended term length from three to four years, reduced seat count from 225 to 113, and introduced the current electoral system.
The results gave the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Pan-Blue Coalition a supermajority (86 of the 113 seats) in the legislature, handing a heavy defeat to then-President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party, which won the remaining 27 seats only. The junior partner in the Pan-Green Coalition, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, won no seats.
Two transitional justice referendums, both of which failed to pass due to low turnout, were held at the same time.

## Legislature reform

For the first time in the history of Taiwan, most members of the Legislative Yuan were to be elected from single-member districts: 73 of the 113 members were chosen in such districts by the plurality voting system (first-past-the-post). Parallel to the single member constituencies (not compensating for disproportionality in single-member districts), 34 seats were elected in one national district by party-list proportional representation. For these seats, only political parties whose votes exceed a five percent threshold were eligible for the allocation. Six further seats were reserved for Taiwanese aborigines. Therefore, each elector had two ballots under parallel voting.
The aboriginal members were elected by single non-transferable vote in two 3-member constituencies for lowland aborigines and highland aborigines respectively. This did not fulfill the promise in the treaty-like document A New Partnership Between the Indigenous Peoples and the Government of Taiwan, where each of the 13 recognized indigenous peoples was to get at least one seat, and the distinction between highland and lowland abolished.
The breakdown by administrative unit was:
| Jurisdiction | Seats | Jurisdiction | Seats | Jurisdiction | Seats |
| Taipei City | 8 | Taichung City | 3 | Kaohsiung County | 4 |
| Kaohsiung City | 5 | Changhua County | 4 | Pingtung County | 3 |
| Taipei County | 12 | Yunlin County | 2 | Yilan County | 1 |
| Keelung City | 1 | Nantou County | 2 | Hualien County | 1 |
| Taoyuan County | 6 | Chiayi County | 2 | Taitung County | 1 |
| Hsinchu City | 1 | Chiayi City | 1 | Penghu County | 1 |
| Hsinchu County | 1 | Tainan County | 3 | Kinmen County | 1 |
| Miaoli County | 2 | Tainan City | 2 | Lienchiang County | 1 |
| Taichung County | 5 | | | | |
The delimitation of the single-member constituencies within the cities and counties was a major political issue, with bargaining between the government and the legislature. Of the 15 cities and counties to be partitioned (the ten others have only one seat), only seven of the districting schemes proposed by the CEC were approved in a normal way. The eight other schemes were decided by drawing lots: "Taipei and Taichung cities and Miaoli and Changhua counties will adopt the version suggested by the CEC, while Kaohsiung city will follow the consensus of the legislature. Taipei county will follow the proposal offered by the opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union, Taoyuan county will adopt the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's scheme, and Pingtung county will use the scheme agreed upon by the Non-partisan Solidarity Union, People First Party, Kuomintang and Taiwan Solidarity Union."

## Impact of the electoral system

The elections were the first held under a new electoral system which had been approved by both major parties in constitutional amendments adopted in 2005, but which one political scientist has argued favored the KMT. The rules are set up so that every county has at least one seat, which gave a higher representation for smaller counties in which the KMT traditionally has done well. Northern counties tend to be marginally in favor of KMT, whereas southern counties tend to be strongly for DPP, and the single member system limits this advantage. The partially led to the result that the legislative count was highly in favor of the KMT while the difference in the number of votes cast for the KMT and DPP were less dramatic.
It was considered possible that the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election would be held on the same day as this election, but this was eventually not the case, with the presidential happening 10 weeks later, in March. Two referendums were held on the same date.

## Results

| Party | Party | Party-list | Party-list | Party-list | Constituency/Aboriginal | Constituency/Aboriginal | Constituency/Aboriginal | Total seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Total seats |
| | Kuomintang | 5,010,801 | 51.23 | 20 | 5,291,512 | 53.50 | 61 | 81 |
| | Democratic Progressive Party | 3,610,106 | 36.91 | 14 | 3,775,352 | 38.17 | 13 | 27 |
| | New Party | 386,660 | 3.95 | 0 | | | | 0 |
| | Taiwan Solidarity Union | 344,887 | 3.53 | 0 | 93,840 | 0.95 | 0 | 0 |
| | Home Party | 77,870 | 0.80 | 0 | 6,355 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 |
| | Non-Partisan Solidarity Union | 68,527 | 0.70 | 0 | 239,317 | 2.42 | 3 | 3 |
| | Green Party Taiwan | 58,473 | 0.60 | 0 | 14,767 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 |
| | Taiwan Farmers' Party | 57,144 | 0.58 | 0 | 8,681 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 |
| | Civil Party | 48,192 | 0.49 | 0 | 6,562 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 |
| | Third Society Party | 45,594 | 0.47 | 0 | 10,057 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | Hakka Party | 42,004 | 0.43 | 0 | 8,860 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 |
| | Taiwan Constitution Association | 30,315 | 0.31 | 0 | 3,926 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| | People First Party | | | | 28,254 | 0.29 | 1 | 1 |
| | Democratic Liberal Party | | | | 5,094 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 |
| | Great Mercy and Charity Party [zh] | | | | 3,783 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| | Hongyun Loyalty Party | | | | 581 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 |
| | World Peace Party | | | | 489 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independents | | | | 393,346 | 3.98 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 9,780,573 | 100.00 | 34 | 9,890,776 | 100.00 | 79 | 113 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 9,780,573 | 97.07 | | 9,890,776 | 98.41 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 295,666 | 2.93 | | 159,843 | 1.59 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 10,076,239 | 100.00 | | 10,050,619 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 17,288,551 | 58.28 | | 17,179,656 | 58.50 | | |
| Source: Election Study Center, CEC |||||||||
* 1 2 In a pre-election agreement, the Kuomintang and the People First Party agreed to register most PFP constituency candidates as KMT candidates, and nominate a common KMT party list, in order to prevent splitting of the Pan-Blue vote. The PFP won one aboriginal seat it contested under its own name, five constituency seats contested under the KMT banner, and three seats within the KMT party list.
* 1 2 Under New Party direction, all New Party legislators in the outgoing legislature had joined the KMT, and New Party members ran as KMT candidates with New Party endorsement in this election. The New Party ran only party list candidates in this election but failed to pass the 5% threshold.
* ↑ Chen Fu-hai of Kinmen, the lone independent elected in this election, is a former KMT member and endorsed the KMT presidential campaign. Hence the strength of the Pan-Blue coalition is taken as 86.

### Legislators elected through constituency and aborigine ballots

| Constituency | Elected candidate(s) | Popular vote |
| Taipei City Constituency 1 | Ting Shou-chung [zh] | 59.81% |
| Taipei City Constituency 2 | Justin Chou | 52.39% |
| Taipei City Constituency 3 | John Chiang | 60.25% |
| Taipei City Constituency 4 | Alex Tsai | 62.25% |
| Taipei City Constituency 5 | Lin Yu-fang | 58.24% |
| Taipei City Constituency 6 | Diane Lee | 66.80% |
| Taipei City Constituency 7 | Alex Fai | 65.79% |
| Taipei City Constituency 8 | Lai Shyh-bao | 71.81% |
| Kaohsiung City Constituency 1 | Huang Chao-shun | 58.29% |
| Kaohsiung City Constituency 2 | Kuan Bi-ling | 48.84% |
| Kaohsiung City Constituency 3 | Hou Tsai-feng [zh] | 49.13% |
| Kaohsiung City Constituency 4 | Lee Fu-hsing | 51.32% |
| Kaohsiung City Constituency 5 | Kuo Wen-chen [zh] | 46.01% |
| Taipei County Constituency 1 | Wu Yu-sheng [zh] | 58.38% |
| Taipei County Constituency 2 | Lin Shu-fen | 43.17% |
| Taipei County Constituency 3 | Yu Tian | 49.51% |
| Taipei County Constituency 4 | Lee Hung-chun | 51.73% |
| Taipei County Constituency 5 | Huang Chih-hsiung | 52.32% |
| Taipei County Constituency 6 | Lin Hung-chih | 56.93% |
| Taipei County Constituency 7 | Wu Chin-chih | 55.82% |
| Taipei County Constituency 8 | Chang Ching-chung | 59.55% |
| Taipei County Constituency 9 | Lin Te-fu | 69.61% |
| Taipei County Constituency 10 | Lu Chia-chen | 60.10% |
| Taipei County Constituency 11 | Lo Ming-tsai | 69.69% |
| Taipei County Constituency 12 | Lee Ching-hua | 51.96% |
| Keelung City | Hsieh Kuo-liang | 67.79% |
| Yilan County | Lin Chien-jung [zh] | 53.12% |
| Taoyuan County Constituency 1 | Chen Ken-te [zh] | 61.76% |
| Taoyuan County Constituency 2 | Liao Cheng-ching [zh] | 54.57% |
| Taoyuan County Constituency 3 | John Wu | 63.22% |
| Taoyuan County Constituency 4 | Yang Li-huan [zh] | 62.42% |
| Taoyuan County Constituency 5 | Chu Fong-chi | 63.76% |
| Taoyuan County Constituency 6 | Sun Ta-chien [zh] | 65.02% |
| Hsinchu County | Chiu Ching-chun | 66.52% |
| Hsinchu City | Lu Hsueh-chang [zh] | 60.61% |
| Miaoli County Constituency 1 | Li Yi-ting | 58.01% |
| Miaoli County Constituency 2 | Hsu Yao-chang | 45.62% |
| Taichung County Constituency 1 | Liu Chuan-chung | 53.59% |
| Taichung County Constituency 2 | Yen Ching-piao | 59.94% |
| Taichung County Constituency 3 | Chiang Lien-fu [zh] | 54.95% |
| Taichung County Constituency 4 | Shyu Jong-shyong | 64.00% |
| Taichung County Constituency 5 | Yang Chiung-ying | 57.68% |
| Taichung City Constituency 1 | Tsai Chin-lung [zh] | 61.29% |
| Taichung City Constituency 2 | Lu Shiow-yen | 57.08% |
| Taichung City Constituency 3 | Daniel Huang | 54.91% |
| Changhua County Constituency 1 | Chen Hsiu-ching | 44.96% |
| Changhua County Constituency 2 | Lin Tsang-min [zh] | 60.02% |
| Changhua County Constituency 3 | Cheng Ru-fen [zh] | 45.33% |
| Changhua County Constituency 4 | Hsiao Ching-tien [zh] | 41.26% |
| Nantou County Constituency 1 | Wu Den-yih | 67.12% |
| Nantou County Constituency 2 | Lin Ming-chen | 57.93% |
| Yunlin County Constituency 1 | Chiang Chia-chun [zh] | 56.24% |
| Yunlin County Constituency 2 | Chang Sho-wen | 49.11% |
| Chiayi County Constituency 1 | Wong Chung-chun | 57.47% |
| Chiayi County Constituency 2 | Helen Chang | 57.05% |
| Chiayi City | Chiang Yi-hsiung [zh] | 46.70% |
| Tainan County Constituency 1 | Yeh Yi-jin [zh] | 54.57% |
| Tainan County Constituency 2 | Huang Wei-cher | 59.16% |
| Tainan County Constituency 3 | Lee Chun-yee | 52.66% |
| Tainan City Constituency 1 | Chen Ting-fei | 50.27% |
| Tainan City Constituency 2 | William Lai | 51.64% |
| Kaohsiung County Constituency 1 | Chung Shao-ho | 53.55% |
| Kaohsiung County Constituency 2 | Lin Yi-shih | 55.27% |
| Kaohsiung County Constituency 3 | Chen Chi-yu [zh] | 45.13% |
| Kaohsiung County Constituency 4 | Chiang Ling-chun [zh] | 50.22% |
| Pingtung County Constituency 1 | Su Chen-ching [zh] | 46.90% |
| Pingtung County Constituency 2 | Wang Chin-shih [zh] | 56.82% |
| Pingtung County Constituency 3 | Pan Men-an | 51.30% |
| Hualien County | Fu Kun-chi | 66.39% |
| Taitung County | Justin Huang | 61.09% |
| Penghu County | Lin Pin-kuan | 50.71% |
| Kinmen County | Chen Fu-hai | 37.31% |
| Lienchiang County | Tsao Erh-chung | 49.72% |
| Lowland Aborigine | Liao Kuo-tung (Kuomintang) Yang Jen-fu (Kuomintang) Lin Cheng-er (林正二) ( People First Party) | |
| Highland Aborigine | Chien Tung-ming (Kuomintang) Kung Wen-chi (孔文吉) (Kuomintang) Kao Chin Su-mei (Non-Partisan Solidarity Union ) | |
* Notes:
* Candidates marked are People First Party candidates running under the KMT party banner.
* Candidates marked are New Party candidates who joined the Kuomintang with New Party endorsement.
* Most names on the list follow the Tongyong Pinyin romanization used in the Central Election Committee website and may not accurately reflect the candidates' preferred romanization of their name.

### Legislators elected through proportional representation and overseas Chinese ballots

| No. | Party | Elected/Candidates | Candidate List |
| 1 | Civil Party | 0/4 | Lei Chiao-yun [zh] Chien Han-ching [zh] Chen Hua Zu [zh] Kong Jen-yi [zh] |
| 2 | Taiwan Constitution Association | 0/3 | Wu Ying-hsiang [zh] Huang Sin Jhu [zh] Huang Chien-ming [zh] |
| 3 | Taiwan Solidarity Union | 0/15 | Chen Yung-hsing Chen Yu-feng [zh] Lai Shin-yuan Shih Chao-hsien [zh] Chien Lin Hui-chun [zh] Chiang Wei-chun [zh] Huang Kun-huei Lo Chih-ming Lee Yi-chieh [zh] Fan Sheng-bao [zh] Chang Chin-sheng [zh] Fu Hsin-yi [zh] Huang Chao-chan [zh] Yeh Chin-ling [zh] Annie Lee [zh] |
| 4 | Third Society Party | 0/5 | Lu Hsiu-chu [zh] Yang Wei-chung [zh] Lin Chih-chen [zh] Yang Ching-hua [zh] Lin Chih-cheng [zh] |
| 5 | Democratic Progressive Party | 14/33 | Chen Chieh-ju Tsai Huang-liang Twu Shiing-jer Chiu Yi-ying Ker Chien-ming Huang Sue-ying Wang Sing-nan Hsueh Ling Gao Jyh-peng [zh] Chen Ying Yu Jane-daw [zh] Wong Chin-chu Chai Trong-rong Tien Chiu-chin Hung Chi-chang Chang Fu-mei Michael You [zh] Hsu Jung-shu Yu Shyi-kun Yang Fang-wan Chou Ching-yu Chen Mao-nan Wu Ming-ming Chang Shiow-jen Fan Sun-lu Wang To-far Chang Ching-hui Chou Kuang-chou [zh] Liu Mei-te [zh] Shih Yi-fang Li Yi Jing You Ma [zh] Liang Chen-hsiang [zh] Chen Hui-ling [zh] |
| 6 | New Party | 0/10 | Chou Yang-shan Joanna Lei Kao Chia-chun [zh] Lin Mei-lun [zh] Hsu Tsung-mao [zh] Kuo Chia-fen [zh] Ke Chien-pu [zh] Sun Chi-chen [zh] Lee Sheng-feng Yok Mu-ming |
| 7 | Green Party Taiwan | 0/4 | Mary Chen Chang Hui-shan [zh] Chang Hung-lin [zh] Wang Fang-ping [zh] |
| 8 | Taiwan Farmers' Party | 0/8 | Chien Hsiao-feng [zh] Ke Chun-hsiung [zh] Ma Kuo-ching [zh] Chen Hsin-hung [zh] Fan Chiang Hsiu-chen [zh] Chen Chung-kuang [zh] Hung Mei-chen [zh] Chang Wen-cheng [zh] |
| 9 | Non-Partisan Solidarity Union | 0/2 | Christina Liu Chen Chieh-ju |
| 10 | Kuomintang | 20/34 | Wang Jin-pyng Hung Hsiu-chu Tseng Yung-chuan Tina Pan Chiu Yi Cheng Chin-ling [zh] Chen Chieh [zh] Lee Jih-chu Chang Hsien-yao Nancy Chao [zh] Lee Chia-chin [zh] Liao Wan-ju [zh] Chi Kuo-tung [zh] Lo Shu-lei Mark Li Kuo Su-chun [zh] Liu Shen-liang Cheng Li-wen Shuai Hua-min [zh] Hsu Shao-ping [zh] Hsu Shu-po [zh] Chen Shu-hui Lee Chuan-chiao [zh] Hsu Yu-chen [zh] Huang Liang-hua [zh] Yang Yu-chen [zh] Lin Cheng-feng Hua Chen [zh] Yao Chiang-lin [zh] Chiu Mei-jui [zh] Chiang Chi-wun [zh] Lu Chun-lin [zh] Chiu Jun-jung [zh] Hsieh Kun-hung [zh] |
| 11 | Home Party | 0/7 | Yang Yu-hsin [zh] Yao Li-ming Chen Yao-chang [zh] Hu Te-fu [zh] Huang Hui-chun [zh] Tsung Ying-yi [zh] Wei Yao-chien |
| 12 | Hakka Party | 0/3 | Sung Chu-yu [zh] Chung Deng-ting [zh] Peng Yun-huang [zh] |
* Notes:
* Candidates marked with a ^ are overseas Chinese candidates.
* Elected candidates are marked with a next to their name.
* Candidates with are People First Party candidates running on a joint ticket with the Kuomintang。
* Green Party Taiwan candidate Wang Fang Ping is endorsed by the coalition Raging Citizens Act Now! [zh]。
* Most names on the list follow the Tongyong Pinyin romanization used in the Central Election Committee website and may not accurately reflect the candidates' preferred romanization of their name.

### Legislators elected through subsequent by-elections

| Date | Constituency | Outgoing member | Incoming member |
| 14 March 2009 | Miaoli 1 | Li Yi-ting | Kang Shih-ju |
| 28 March 2009 | Taipei City 6 | Diane Lee | Chiang Nai-shin |
| 26 September 2009 | Yunlin 2 | Chang Sho-wen | Liu Chien-kuo |
| 5 December 2009 | Nantou 1 | Wu Den-yih | Ma Wen-chun |
| 9 January 2010 | Taichung County 3 | Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) | Tony Jian |
| 9 January 2010 | Taitung | Justin Huang | Lie Kuen-cheng (賴坤成) |
| 9 January 2010 | Taoyuan 2 | Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) | Kuo June-tsung (郭榮宗) |
| 27 February 2010 | Chiayi County 2 | Helen Chang | Chen Ming-wen |
| 27 February 2010 | Taoyuan 3 | John Wu | Huang Jen-shu (黃仁杼) |
| 27 February 2010 | Hsinchu County | Chiu Ching-chun | Perng Shaw-jiin |
| 27 February 2010 | Hualien | Fu Kun-chi | 王廷升 |
| 5 March 2011 | Kaohsiung 4 (Kaohsiung County 3 in 2008) | Chen Chi-yu [zh] | Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) |
| 5 March 2011 | Tainan 4 (Tainan City 2 in 2008) | William Lai | Hsu Tain-tsair |

## Impact

With this election the KMT and the Pan-Blue Coalition have more than the two-thirds majority needed to propose a recall election of the President and if NPSU votes are counted with the pan-Blue coalition, more than the three-quarters majority needed to propose constitutional amendments.

## Reaction from People's Republic of China

The government of People's Republic of China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, remained largely silent on the election result. State media carried brief updates of results and passed no comment on either the referendum or the Kuomintang victory.
The government of China appointed 13 representatives for Taiwan to its own National People's Congress on the same day. These delegates are mostly descendants of Taiwanese who emigrated to the Mainland, or Communist supporters who fled Taiwan. Their positions are ceremonial as the PRC do not exercise effective jurisdiction over Taiwan.