The 2017 Kuomintang chairmanship election (Chinese: 2017年中國國民黨主席選舉) was held on 20 May 2017. This was the eighth direct election of the party leader in Kuomintang history. All registered, due-paying KMT party members were eligible to vote.
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| Turnout | 58.05% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 County level units won by Wu Den-yih. County level units won by Hung Hsiu-chu. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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History
editThe 2017 Kuomintang chairmanship election was originally scheduled for 20 July.[1] Alex Tsai cited the KMT party charter while announcing the party's decision to move the election date to 20 May. According to Tsai, the charter states that new party leaders should be elected three months before the last national party congress convened by the incumbent leader. In 2005, Lien Chan left office on 19 August, and, said Tsai, a full-term inauguration should therefore occur on 20 August. For that to happen in accordance with Article 17 of the charter, the 2017 election date was rescheduled to 20 May.[2] The proposal was voted on in a Central Standing Committee meeting held 21 December 2016.[3] Though early reports claimed a lower attendance,[4][5] fourteen committee members attended the meeting, and 26 people boycotted the vote.[6] Party headquarters stated that the election date change vote was held with a quorum as defined by central governmental standards,[5][6] and passed; party regulations define a quorum as half the eligible participants,[6] and in the case of the forty-member Central Standing Committee, twenty people must have voted.[7] Liao Kuo-tung took a strong position against the change in election date, calling for Hung Hsiu-chu's resignation as party leader.[7][8] Central Standing Committee member Yao Chiang-lin filed a civil lawsuit against Hung.[4] In the next Central Standing Committee meeting, the original attempt to reschedule the chairmanship election was placed under reconsideration, and passed, confirming the election date as 20 May 2017.[9] After the meeting, Liao continued claiming that disagreement over the election date was only "partially resolved". He also stated that "only five committee members attended the meeting" called to deliberate the first date change.[10]
Candidates
editIncumbent chairperson Hung Hsiu-chu was the first to declare her candidacy for the position.[1] On 7 January 2017, Hau Lung-pin entered the race.[11][12] Two days later, Wu Den-yih announced his bid for the chairmanship.[13][14] On 12 January, Han Kuo-yu resigned his executive positions at Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation and entered the leadership election.[15][16] Steve Chan launched his chairmanship campaign on 23 January.[17][18] Tina Pan became the sixth candidate to enter the election on 23 February.[19]
Figures released by the Kuomintang in January showed that, for the election, the eligible electorate included 226,783 party members, while total party membership numbered 887,861 people.[20] By April, the electorate had risen to 451,510 people.[21] Candidates must have collected the signatures of three percent of the Kuomintang membership by 15 April, an approximate minimum of 13,000 in 2017, to qualify for the election.[22][23] On 21 April, all candidates were officially confirmed.[24]
Results
editShortly after polls closed on 20 May, Wu Den-yih was declared the winner of the election, having won approximately 52 percent of the vote.[25] Wu earned 144,408 votes. Incumbent Hung Hsiu-chu received 53,063 votes, while Hau Lung-pin finished third with 44,301 votes. Han Kuo-yu and Steve Chan finished with the closest margin between candidates at 16,141 and 12,332 votes respectively. Tina Pan placed sixth with 2,437 votes.[26] Turnout was 58.05 percent of 476,147 eligible voters.[27]
| 2017 Kuomintang chairmanship election | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage | ||
| 1 | Wu Den-yih | Kuomintang | 144,408 | 52.24% | 
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| 2 | Hung Hsiu-chu | Kuomintang | 53,063 | 19.20% | ||
| 3 | Hau Lung-pin | Kuomintang | 44,301 | 16.03% | ||
| 4 | Han Kuo-yu | Kuomintang | 16,141 | 5.84% | ||
| 5 | Steve Chan | Kuomintang | 12,332 | 4.46% | ||
| 6 | Tina Pan | Kuomintang | 2,437 | 0.88% | ||
| Eligible voters | 476,147 | |||||
| Total votes | 276,423 | |||||
| Valid votes | 272,682 | |||||
| Invalid votes | 3,741 | |||||
| Turnout | 58.05% | |||||
Hung Hsiu-chu announced on 14 June that she planned to resign her position by 30 June, and had named Lin Junq-tzer acting chairman of the Kuomintang.[28]
References
edit- ^ a b Hsu, Stacy (7 January 2017). "Hung may face at least two challengers". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Hsu, Stacy (20 December 2016). "KMT to move election to comply with charter". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Liu, Claudia; Low, Y. F. (19 December 2016). "KMT chairman election tentatively set for May 20". Central News Agency. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2017 – via China Post. Alt URL
- ^ a b Wen, Yu-te; Lin, Liang-sheng; Hetherington, William (27 December 2016). "Suit filed in KMT election dispute". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ a b Hsiao, Alison; Shih, Hsiao-kuang (24 December 2016). "KMT's top brass trade barbs over election decision". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ a b c Hsu, Stacy (23 December 2016). "Hau Lung-bin questions vote move legitimacy". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ a b Hsu, Stacy (28 December 2016). "KMT legislator calls for Hung to resign". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Chiao, Yuan-Ming (28 December 2016). "KMT party whip calls on Hung to step down". China Post. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Hsiao, Alison; Shih, Hsiao-kuang (29 December 2016). "KMT chairwoman apologizes over party infighting". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Hsiao, Alison (30 December 2016). "KMT fears split if Hung re-elected". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Hsiao, Alison (8 January 2017). "Hau Lung-bin to run for top KMT job". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Lin, Liang-sheng; Hetherington, William (9 January 2017). "Hung shows up at event unannounced". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ "Former Vice President Wu officially joins race for KMT chairman". China Post. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Hsieh, Chia-chen; Hsu, Elizabeth (9 January 2017). "Wu Den-yih announces bid for KMT chair (update)". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
- ^ Lin, Sean (12 January 2017). "Han resigns, fueling rumors of candidacy". Taipei Times. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^ Yiu, Kai-hsiang; Kao, Evelyn (12 January 2017). "New KMT chairmanship bid announced". Central News Agency. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^ Liu, Claudia; Hsu, Elizabeth (23 January 2017). "Steve Chan announces bid for KMT chairmanship". Central News Agency. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
- ^ Hsu, Stacy (24 January 2017). "Steve Chan enters race for KMT chair". Taipei Times. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
- ^ Hsu, Stacy (25 February 2017). "Ex-lawmaker Pan Wei-kang joins KMT race". Taipei Times. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
- ^ Hsu, Stacy (16 January 2017). "Hung urges for scrutiny of KMT leader elections". Taipei Times. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
- ^ Hsu, Stacy (1 April 2017). "Court rescinds disputed KMT election motion". Taipei Times. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
- ^ "KMT hopefuls' plea for election changes denied". Taipei Times. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ Hsu, Stacy (10 April 2017). "Hung asks for four more years behind KMT wheel". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
- ^ "6 hopefuls confirmed as eligible candidates in KMT chairmanship race". Central News Agency. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
- ^ Strong, Matt (20 May 2017). "Taiwan ex-Vice President Wu Den-yih elected KMT leader in first round". Taiwan News. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ Lin, Sean (21 May 2017). "Wu Den-yih wins KMT chair election". Taipei Times. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Hsieh, Chia-chen; Wu, Lilian (20 May 2017). "Wu Den-yih wins KMT chairman election (update)". Central News Agency. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Lin, Sean (15 June 2017). "Hung to resign as KMT chief by end of the month". Taipei Times. Retrieved 15 June 2017.