2022 Taichung by-election

A by-election was held on 9 January 2022 in Taichung to elect one member of the Legislative Yuan for the Taichung City Constituency II (Taichung 2) for the remaining term until 2024. Democratic Progressive Party legislator Lin Ching-yi won the by-election for Taichung 2 to replace Chen Po-wei, who was recalled on 23 October 2021.^[1][2][3]

2022 Taichung legislative by-election

← 2020 9 January 2022 (2022-01-09) 2024 →
Taichung City Constituency II of the Legislative Yuan
Majority party Minority party   Candidate Lin Ching-yi Yen Kuan-heng Party DPP Kuomintang Popular vote 88,752 80,912 Percentage 51.83% 47.25%
Legislator before election Chen Po-wei (recalled) Statebuilding Elected Legislator Lin Ching-yi DPP

Background

In the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election, Chen Po-wei became the first member of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party to be elected to the Legislative Yuan.^[4] He narrowly defeated the incumbent Kuomintang legislator Yen Kuan-heng by 2.30 percentage points.^[5] Shortly after Chen was sworn in, some pan-Blue politicians (most notably the New Party in June 2020) called for Chen to be recalled, with media sources frequently portraying it revenge for the recall of former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu.^[6]

On 8 February 2021, a recall effort led by Yang Wen-yuan officially proposed a recall motion against Chen.^[7] Under Article 76 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act [zh], a proposal passes into the second stage with the number of proposers totaling at least 1% of the electorate.^[8] On 5 March 2021, the Central Election Commission announced that the proposal threshold of 2,912 proposers had been met with 3,744 valid proposers.^[9] The second stage, which requires joint signers of the proposal to exceed 10% of the electorate (29,113 signatures), was met with 36,073 valid signatures; the recall vote was formally established on 2 July 2021.^[10] The CEC originally planned for a recall vote on 28 August 2021, but postponed it to 23 October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[11] Chen was successfully recalled [zh], with 77,899 votes in favor, exceeding both the required 25% threshold of 73,744 votes and the 73,433 votes against.^[12] Chen became the first legislator to have been recalled.^[13] On 28 October 2021, the CEC announced that the by-election to replace Chen would be held on 9 January 2022. Candidate registrations were open from 15 to 19 November 2021.^[14]

Candidates

•   Kuomintang called in former legislator Yen Kuan-heng to contest the seat.^[15] Yen held the seat from 2013, when he won a by-election to replace his father Yen Ching-piao,^[16] until 2020, when he lost to Chen Po-wei.^[5]
•   Democratic Progressive Party called in former legislator Lin Ching-yi to contest the seat.^[17] Lin also received the backing of the   Taiwan Statebuilding Party.^[18]

Election

A total of 258 polling stations were open from 8:00 to 16:00 on 9 January 2022.^[19][20] A number of people set up or used cameras near polling stations, in contravention of election law.^[21] Yen made a concession speech at 17:50.^[22] Political scientist Shen Yu-chung attributed Lin's win to the Democratic Progressive Party's past successes in the 2020 presidential and legislative elections, stating that most voters cast ballots based on party affiliation instead of local issues. Shen believed that the DPP supported Lin's campaign more directly then the Kuomintang supported Yen Kuan-heng. Instead, the KMT utilized the Yen family's local political influence.^[23]

Results

The election was won by Lin with 51.83% of votes, retaining the seat for the Pan-Green Coalition.^[24]

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Lin Ching-yi	Democratic Progressive Party	88,752	51.83
	Yen Kuan-heng	Kuomintang	80,912	47.25
	Lin Chin-lien	Independent	633	0.37
	Li Sheng-han	Independent	617	0.36
	Chang Chiung-chun	Taiwan Stock Party	337	0.20
Total			171,251	100.00
Valid votes			171,251	99.31
Invalid/blank votes			1,195	0.69
Total votes			172,446	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			295,985	58.26

Notes

References

1. 蘇木春 (23 October 2021). "罷免案通過 陳柏惟：不覺得是輸、下一戰贏回來" (in Chinese). Taiwan. Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
2. 蘇木春 (9 January 2022). "林靜儀立委補選勝出鞠躬感謝選民 陳柏惟同台泛淚" (in Chinese). Taiwan. Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
3. 鍾麗華 (17 January 2022). "林靜儀立院宣誓就職 民進黨團成員增至61人". Liberty Times Net (in Chinese). Taiwan. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
4. "Taiwan Statebuilding Party candidate wins in KMT stronghold". Taiwan News. 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
5. "第 10 屆 立法委員選舉（區域） 候選人得票數". Central Election Commission (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2020-01-11. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
6. Wu, Su-wei; Chang, Jui-chen; Chung, Jake (2020-06-11). "New Party seeks to recall TSP's Chen". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
7. "刪Q總部推罷免陳柏惟 送出第一階段提議書". Central News Agency (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
8. "Civil Servants Election And Recall Act". Act of 6 May 2020. Ministry of the Interior.
9. "Petition to recall Chen Po-wei passes first stage". Taipei Times (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
10. "第10屆立法委員（臺中市第2選舉區）陳柏惟罷免案宣告成立" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Central Election Commission. 2021-07-02. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
11. "原定8月28日舉行之第10屆立法委員（臺中市第2選舉區）陳柏惟罷免案投票，因受COVID-19疫情影響，改定於10月23日投票" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Central Election Commission. 2021-07-16. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
12. "第10屆立法委員（臺中市第2選舉區）陳柏惟罷免案投票結果" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Central Election Commission. 2021-10-23. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
13. Huang, Frances; Chao, Li-yen; Lai, Yu-chen; Liu, Kay (2021-10-23). "Chen Po-wei becomes first legislator in Taiwan to lose recall vote (update)". Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
14. "中選會委員會議審查第10屆立法委員（臺中市第2選舉區）陳柏惟罷免案投票結果，並討論通過第10屆立法委員臺中市第2選舉區缺額補選投票日期" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Central Election Commission. 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
15. Chao, Li-yan; Liu, Kuan-ting; Kao, Evelyn (2021-11-09). "KMT picks Yen Kuan-heng to run in Taichung legislative by-election". Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
16. "台灣立委補選藍營候選人千票險勝". BBC (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
17. Wang, Ken (2021-11-03). "Former DPP lawmaker Lin Ching-yi picked to run in Taichung by-election". Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
18. "林靜儀征戰中二區！台灣基進：全力協助共同勝選". Liberty Times (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 2021-11-03. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
19. Chiang, Yi-ching (9 January 2022). "DPP's Lin Ching-yi wins Taichung legislative by-election". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
20. Liu, Kay (9 January 2022). "Polls open for recall vote in Taipei, Taichung by-election". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
21. Su, Mu-chun; Kao, Evelyn (9 January 2022). "Isolated incidents take place during Taichung legislative by-election". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
22. "DPP's Lin wins Taichung vote by 52.3 percent". Taipei Times. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
23. Chao, Li-yan; Hao, Hsueh-chin; Huang, Guo-fang; Wang, Yang-yu; Wu, Che-hao; Yeh, Su-ping; Chiang, Yi-ching (9 January 2022). "DPP's Lin Ching-yi wins Taichung legislative by-election (update)". Central News Agency. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
24. 郝雪卿 (9 January 2022). "林靜儀台中第2選區立委補選5區全贏 8萬8752票勝選" (in Chinese). Taiwan. Central News Agency. Retrieved 18 January 2022.