Since the amendment of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1994 that introduced direct elections, there have been 13 unsuccessful candidates for President of the Republic of China. Since 1996, four third party or independent candidacies have won at least ten percent of the popular vote, but all failed to win the presidency.
List of unsuccessful candidates Term(Election) Candidate Vote Running mate Candidate(Birth–death) Party Office at timeof election Candidate(Birth–death) Party Office at timeof election9(1996) Peng Ming-min(1923–2022) Democratic Progressive Professor 2,274,586 21.13% Frank Hsieh(1946– ) Democratic Progressive fmr. Member of the Legislative Yuan9(1996) Lin Yang-kang(1927–2013) Independent fmr. President of the Judicial Yuan 1,603,790 14.90% Hau Pei-tsun(1919–2020) Independent fmr. Premier9(1996) Chen Li-an(1937– ) Independent fmr. President of the Control Yuan 1,074,044 9.98% Wang Ching-feng(1952– ) Independent fmr. Member of the Control Yuan10(2000) James Soong(1942– ) Independent fmr. Governor of Taiwan 4,664,972 36.84% Chang Chau-hsiung(1942– ) Independent Surgeon10(2000) Lien Chan(1936– ) Kuomintang Vice President 2,925,513 23.10% Vincent Siew(1939– ) Kuomintang Premier10(2000) Hsu Hsin-liang(1941– ) Independent fmr. Taoyuan County Magistrate 79,429 0.63% Josephine Chu(1950– ) Independent Member of the Legislative Yuan10(2000) Li Ao(1935–2018) New Writer 16,782 0.13% Elmer Fung(1948–2021) New Member of the Legislative Yuan11(2004) Lien Chan(1936– ) Kuomintang fmr. Vice President 6,442,452 49.89% James Soong(1942– ) People First fmr. Governor of Taiwan12(2008) Frank Hsieh(1946– ) Democratic Progressive fmr. Premier 5,444,949 41.55% Su Tseng-chang(1947– ) Democratic Progressive fmr. Premier13(2012) Tsai Ing-wen(1956– ) Democratic Progressive fmr. Vice Premier 6,093,578 45.63% Su Jia-chyuan(1956– ) Democratic Progressive fmr. Minister of the Interior13(2012) James Soong(1942– ) People First fmr. Governor of Taiwan 369,588 2.77% Lin Ruey-shiung(1938– ) Independent Epidemiologist14(2016) Eric Chu(1961– ) Kuomintang Mayor of New Taipei City 3,813,365 31.04% Wang Ju-hsuan(1961– ) Independent fmr. Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs14(2016) James Soong(1942– ) People First fmr. Governor of Taiwan 1,576,861 12.83% Hsu Hsin-ying(1972– ) Minkuotang Member of the Legislative Yuan15(2020) Han Kuo-yu(1957– ) Kuomintang Mayor of Kaohsiung 5,522,119 38.61% Chang San-cheng(1954– ) Independent fmr. Premier15(2020) James Soong(1942– ) People First fmr. Governor of Taiwan 608,590 4.26% Sandra Yu(1959– ) Independent Businesswoman16(2024) Hou Yu-ih(1957– ) Kuomintang Mayor of New Taipei City 4,671,021 33.49% Jaw Shaw-kong(1950– ) Kuomintang fmr. Member of the Legislative Yuan16(2024) Ko Wen-je(1959– ) Taiwan People's fmr. Mayor of Taipei 3,690,466 26.46% Cynthia Wu(1978– ) Taiwan People's Member of the Legislative Yuan
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