Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 18 March 2000 to elect the president and vice president. With a voter turnout of 83%, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were elected president and vice president respectively with a slight plurality.

This election ended more than half a century of Kuomintang (KMT) rule on the island, during which it had governed as a one-party state since the retreat of the government from the Chinese mainland during the closing stages of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. This was also the first time in Chinese history that a ruling political party peacefully transferred power to an opposition party under a democratic system. The nominees included the then-current vice president Lien Chan for the KMT, former provincial governor James Soong as an independent candidate (upon his loss of the KMT nomination), and former Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian for the DPP.

Controversy arose throughout the course of the election; in particular, the candidacy of James Soong was beset by accusations of splitting the Kuomintang vote and involvement in corruption during the presidency of Lee Teng-hui, culminating in protests and the expulsion of the latter from the Kuomintang, while Chen's campaign attracted criticism from neighboring China due to his party's traditionally pro-independence stance. The issues of corruption and cross-strait relations were dominant during this election. Chen's victory was initially seen as unlikely, but several compounded effects like the splitting of the Kuomintang vote and the aforementioned controversies are seen as having led to his victory. Chen performed most strongly in the southern part of Taiwan, while Soong tended to win in northern areas.

Candidates and platforms Kuomintang The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) ran vice president Lien Chan for president and Premier Vincent Siew for vice president. Both were career civil servants and Lien, originating from the Taiwanese elite, was seen as aloof and unable to empathize with the common people.

Though more popular and consistently ranked higher in the polls, the outspoken former Taiwan governor James Soong failed to gain the Kuomintang's nomination. As a result, he announced his candidacy as an independent candidate. The Kuomintang responded by expelling Soong in November 1999. It is a very common belief among KMT supporters that president Lee Teng-hui was secretly supporting Chen Shui-bian, and purposely supported the less popular Lien in order to split the Kuomintang, and this belief was given a great deal of credibility after the 2000 election with Lee's defection to the Pan-Green coalition, though Lee's defection came only after his expulsion by the KMT. Soong, a mainlander, tried to appeal to the native Taiwanese by nominating surgeon Chang Chao-hsiung, who is a native Taiwanese, as his running-mate. This, combined with the fact that Chang had connections to both the Democratic Progressive Party and the KMT reinforced Soong's campaign message of bridging political and cultural divide.

In December 1999 the KMT began to attack Soong's integrity. They sued Soong for theft, alleging that as party secretary-general, he stole millions of Taiwan dollars in cash intended for the family of the late president Chiang Ching-kuo and hid the money in the Chunghsing Bills Finance Co. Soong defended himself by saying he was acting under Lee's direction, though Lee denied this and many found the explanation unconvincing. Initially holding a commanding lead in the polls, Soong ended up losing by just over 300,000 votes.

Both candidates had some obstacles presenting themselves as reform candidates with regard to corruption, given their high rank in the Kuomintang government. Soong's strategy was to openly admit his past wrongdoing and present his insider status as an advantage: i.e. that he could most easily tackle the corruption because of his experience with it; however, many saw his credibility as a reformer as broken by his financial scandal. Lien advocated for reform, but had some difficulty in direct criticism as such attacks may have offended the ruling government; this is thought to have contributed to his defeat.

Democratic Progressive Party

The DPP ran former Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian and Taoyuan County magistrate Annette Lu for vice president. Having run for the 1996 election on a radical independence platform and lost by a landslide, the DPP in May 1999 moderated its stance by issuing the "Resolution on the Future of Taiwan". The resolution accepted the status quo and promoted the moderate view that Taiwan was already independent, so any formal declaration would not be urgently necessary, if at all, and Chen presented a more conciliatory stance regarding the mainland. Also included was the pledge that any change in Taiwan's international status will have to be done through a referendum, thus alleviating the fear that, if elected, a DPP government would unilaterally declare independence without popular approval. The Chen-Lu ticket also promised to be more aggressive in fighting black gold, a system of connections and corruption which had become intertwined with the KMT. The last minute public endorsement of Chen Shui-bian by President of the Academia Sinica and Nobel laureate Yuan T. Lee is also thought to have played a role in his election, with Yuan T. Lee offering to negotiate with the PRC on Taiwan's behalf.

Other candidates All independent presidential tickets were required to turn in a petition of 224,000 names to the Central Election Commission to confirm their candidacy and appear on the ballot.

Former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang, who had quit the party after failing to prevent Chen from running, ran as an independent with New Party (NP) legislator Josephine Chu as his running mate. As DPP Chairman, Hsu had moderated the platform of the party, promoting reconciliation with the People's Republic of China and the opening of direct links, a move not then supported by the KMT. During the 2000 campaign, the Hsu-Chu ticket promoted unification under something similar to, but not the same as, 'one country, two systems', claiming that that exact system would be "bound to bring immediate loss to Taiwan".

The New Party nominated independent social commentator Li Ao—an acclaimed author, historian, and former political prisoner—for president and legislator Elmer Fung for vice president. Li, who supported "one country, two systems", said he took the election as an opportunity to educate the people in Taiwan on his ideas, and show them the nation's "dark side". Despite his nomination Li refused to join the NP. Both he and the NP publicly encouraged people to vote for James Soong to the point of stating during the televised presidential debates that he was not planning to vote for himself and that people should vote for Soong so that the pro-unification vote would not be split.

A white paper issued by the People's Republic of China (PRC) prior to the election had mentioned that they would "not permit the 'Taiwan question' to drag on", which generated condemnation from American leaders, including John Kerry and Stanley Roth; along with a downturn in the stock market, but little in terms of a Taiwanese reaction. Then, shortly before the election, Zhu Rongji, the premier of the People's Republic of China attempted to influence the outcome, warning that voters should "not just act on impulse at this juncture, which will decide the future course that China and Taiwan will follow" and should "shun a pro-independence candidate", further stating that "[n]o matter who comes into power in Taiwan, Taiwan will never be allowed to be independent. This is our bottom line and the will of 1.25 billion Chinese people." According to Christopher R. Hughes, emeritus professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, a conclusion was made that the statements of Chinese government had actually been counterproductive and helped Chen to win; consequently, China avoided making such an open attempt to influence the 2004 elections, adopting a "wait and see" attitude with Chen.

Results Voting was held on 18 March 2000. The Soong-Chang ticket appeared first on the ballot, followed by the Kuomintang's Lien and Siew, then two independent tickets, Li-Fung and Hsu-Chu. The eventual winning DPP ticket of Chen and Lu were listed fifth. Chen's ticket won by a margin of about 2.46%, ahead of Soong in second place and Chan in third. Generally, the Soong ticket led in the northern half of Taiwan, while the Chen ticket led in the south; however, there were exceptions, including Yilan County in the north, whose vote Chen won, and Taitung County in the south, whose vote Soong won.

By administrative division SubdivisionElectorate12345InvalidTurnoutMarginJames SoongLien ChanLi AoHsu Hsin-liangChen Shui-bian Chang Chau-hsiung Vincent Siew Elmer Fung Josephine Chu Annette Lu Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Taipei City 1,914,915 347,564 21.90% 1,876 0.12% 8,723 0.25% 597,465 37.64% 12,449 83.53% -34,073 Taipei County 2,437,456 451,707 22.37% 2,384 0.12% 10,641 0.53% 741,596 36.73% 22,711 83.77% -71,225 Keelung City 275,256 48,545 21.52% 295 0.13% 1,116 0.49% 69,555 30.84% 1,958 82.65% -36,477 Yilan County 325,691 86,549 33.05% 51,082 19.51% 350 0.13% 736 0.28% 2,029 81.03% 36,608 Taoyuan County 1,134,413 208,881 22.15% 1,140 0.12% 20,581 2.18% 299,120 31.72% 11,628 84.16% -114,250 Hsinchu County 295,192 51,442 20.69% 309 0.12% 7,093 2.85% 61,533 24.25% 2,607 85.10% -66,698 Hsinchu City 249,395 46,234 22.40% 292 0.14% 1,746 0.85% 69,760 33.97% 2,185 83.65% -18,652 Miaoli County 390,780 71,798 22.20% 399 0.12% 3,931 1.22% 86,707 26.81% 3,298 83.59% -73,826 Taichung County 992,527 206,832 24.74% 1,176 0.14% 4,304 0.51% 305,219 36.51% 9,344 85.17% -13,280 Taichung City 636,533 111,391 21.19% 616 0.12% 2,463 0.47% 193,796 36.86% 5,000 83.38% -23,690 Changhua County 896,075 251,310 33.71% 191,685 25.71% 1,070 0.14% 2,811 0.38% 7,997 84.08% 47,261 Nantou County 383,478 56,025 18.15% 395 0.13% 914 0.30% 106,440 34.49% 2,622 81.17% -38,423 Yunlin County 538,140 114,188 27.70% 102,177 24.78% 975 0.24% 1,230 0.30% 3,298 77.23% 79,527 Chiayi County 410,702 85,890 26.98% 73,409 23.06% 561 0.18% 920 0.29% 3,006 78.23% 71,622 Chiayi City 183,325 43,773 29.34% 34,670 23.24% 169 0.11% 448 0.30% 1,134 82.00% 26,351 Tainan County 789,844 136,217 21.10% 159,443 24.70% 1,164 0.18% 1,582 0.25% 5,531 82.44% 210,993 Tainan City 508,517 114,299 27.53% 107,679 25.93% 580 0.14% 1,408 0.34% 3,282 82.30% 76,962 Kaohsiung City 1,042,117 259,023 29.78% 208,544 23.97% 877 0.10% 3,103 0.36% 8,103 84.25% 139,358 Kaohsiung County 874,875 206,616 28.43% 174,021 23.95% 1,024 0.14% 2,478 0.34% 5,851 83.73% 135,937 Pingtung County 647,524 131,371 25.48% 142,934 27.73% 692 0.13% 1,939 0.38% 4,008 80.23% 107,201 Taitung County 177,706 28,659 23.66% 136 0.11% 294 0.24% 28,102 23.20% 1,418 68.95% -35,811 Hualien County 252,771 36,042 19.28% 194 0.10% 736 0.39% 40,044 21.24% 2,201 74.84% -69,918 Penghu County 64,887 10,418 23.25% 64 0.14% 119 0.27% 16,487 36.79% 388 69.66% -1,236 Kinmen County 35,808 3,543 14.50% 37 0.15% 105 0.43% 759 3.11% 214 68.84% -19,232 Lienchiang County 4,698 787 24.43% 7 0.22% 8 0.25% 58 1.80% 16 68.92% -2,304 出典：CEC Overview Table CEC Visual Query

Maps Result by County level Result by Township level

Aftermath