KMT loses national vote in all but four smallest counties

In a symbolic historic first signaling seismic political shifts on the island, the capital Taipei was taken by the DPP for the first time in a national election. President-elect Tsai Ing-wen improved on her 2012 presidential campaign by close to 1 million votes with close to 7 million votes, the most ever received by a DPP candidate. KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s performance of approximately 3.8 million votes was the party’s worst performance since Lien Chan came third in 2000 with under 3 million votes.

 

She came well short however of the votes earned by Ma Ying-jeou in 2008 (with over 7.6 million votes). 

 

Even when Ma Ying-jeou soundly defeated DPP challenger Frank Hsieh in 2008, Hsieh managed to hang on in the southern constituencies of Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan County, Kaohsiung County and Pingtung County. 

 

The DPP, which only secured victories in Kaoshiung and Tainan cities in 2012, (with 53.42 per cent and 57.72 per cent, respectively) swept the vote in all major municipalities in the national vote. It dwarfed KMT victories in Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen and Matsu. Even in Kinmen, the KMT’s victory was bittersweet, as it lost approximately 10,000 votes when compared to its performance in 2012. Vote shares were also sharply down in the three other constituencies. 

 

In the capital Taipei City, the DPP advanced more than 70,000 votes in comparison to the last presidential election while the KMT lost approximately 400,000 votes in their traditional stronghold. 

 

In New Taipei, the nation’s largest city, which is currently governed by Chu, Tsai almost gained the amount of votes the KMT gathered in 2012, increasing the DPP’s votes in the city by over 100,000 votes. More dramatic was the KMT’s change of fortunes in New Taipei, as it lost approximately half of its 1.2 million votes from 2012. The DPP also increased its share of the vote in Taoyuan City by approximately 80,000, while the KMT lost close to 300,000 votes.

 

In Hsinchu County, represented once by James Soong’s running mate Hsu Hsin-Ying, the People First Party (PFP) ticket took less than a quarter of total votes cast, while the KMT lost close to 80,000 votes.

 

In Central Taiwan, the DPP built upon spectacular results in the 2014 local elections, adding about 100,000 votes in Taichung City, while the ruling party lost close to 370,000 votes. 

 

The DPP also increased its dominance in Southern Taiwan. While it already bested the KMT in the port city of Kaohsiung in 2012 by close to 150,000 votes, it increased that margin four-fold to approximately 600,000 votes. The DPP also managed to build on its success in Tainan, as it gained around 30,000 votes while the KMT lost approximately 200,000 votes.