The president and vice president election was held in
Taiwan on 16 January 2016.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate
Tsai Ing-wen with her independent running mate
Chen Chien-jen won over
Eric Chu of the
Kuomintang (KMT) and
James Soong of the
People First Party (PFP). Tsai became the first female president in Taiwan, as well as the Chinese-speaking world. A second-time presidential candidate, Tsai secured the DPP's nomination uncontested as early as February 2015, while KMT candidate
Hung Hsiu-chu, who won the party's nomination in July 2015, was trailing behind Tsai by double digits. Alarmed by Hung's perceived pro-Beijing stance, the KMT held an extraordinary party congress to nullify Hung's candidacy in a controversial move, and replaced her by the party chairman Eric Chu, less than a hundred days before the general election. However, Chu did not fare much better than Hung in the polls, and it was almost certain that Tsai was going to win weeks before the election. Veteran politician James Soong also announced his presidential campaign for the fourth time, making the election a three-way contest. Some 12 million voters, 66% of the total registered voters, cast their votes, the lowest turnout since the office was first directly elected in 1996. Tsai won 6.89 million votes, leading Chu who received 3.81 million votes by 3.08 million votes, becoming the second highest winning margin behind
first direct presidential election in 1996. She also won with 56.1%, the second-largest vote share claimed by a presidential candidate since
Ma Ying-jeou in the
2008 election. It was the second time the DPP won the presidency since
Chen Shui-bian won in 2000. The DPP also won the
Legislative Yuan election on the same day, which secured a DPP majority in the legislature. ==Legislative election==