2018 Taiwanese local elections

2018 Taiwanese local elections
	24 November 2018[1]
	24 November 2018[1]
22 magistrates/mayors and others[lower-alpha 1]
Registered	19,102,502
Turnout	66.96% 0.63 pp
	Elected magistrate/mayor party by seat

Local elections were held on 24 November 2018[2][3] in Taiwan, to elect county magistrates (city mayors), county (city) councilors, township mayors, township councilors and chiefs of village (borough) in 6 municipalities and 16 counties (cities). Elected officials would serve a four-year term. Polling stations were open from 08:00 to 16:00 on the election day.[4]

The elections resulted in a substantial defeat for the DPP. The DPP previously held 13 of 22 municipalities and counties, but won only 6 in this election due to widespread public distrust, a de facto vote of no confidence on President Tsai's Administration, both politically (relations with China), economically (agriculture, tourism), and socially (pollution, labor laws, wages), which were reflected in the series of referendum results. The KMT won back executive control of 7 municipalities and counties from the DPP, while Ko Wen-je won his re-election for Taipei mayor.

Background

This local election is seen as the first test for the incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen since assuming office in May 2016. The results may affect the next legislative and presidential election in January 2020. The Central Election Commission opened election registration to candidates on 27 August 2018.[5]

The Democratic Progressive Party has won the popular vote against the Kuomintang in all of the last three elections.[6] This trend has continued in the 2016 elections, where the Democratic Progressive Party won a majority in the Legislative Yuan with 68 seats and the presidency.

Results summary

Elected magistrates/mayors and council composition in the 2018 Taiwanese local election
Subdivision	Magistrate/mayor				Council
Subdivision	Party result		Elect		First party		Seats[lower-alpha 2]	Second party		Seats	Total seats
New Taipei City		Kuomintang hold		Hou You-yi		Kuomintang	33 7		DPP	25 7	66
Taipei City		Independent hold		Ko Wen-je		Kuomintang	29 1		DPP	19 8	63
Taoyuan City		DPP hold		Cheng Wen-tsan		Kuomintang	32 3		DPP	18 2	63
Taichung City		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Lu Shiow-yen		Kuomintang	32 4		DPP	25 2	65
Tainan City		DPP hold		Huang Wei-cher		DPP	25 3		Kuomintang	16	57
Kaohsiung City		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Han Kuo-yu		Kuomintang	33 9		DPP	25 8	66
Yilan County		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Lin Zi-miao		Kuomintang	13 2		DPP	8 4	34
Hsinchu County		Kuomintang hold		Yang Wen-ke		Kuomintang	19 2		DPP	2	36
Miaoli County		Kuomintang hold		Hsu Yao-chang		Kuomintang	14 5		DPP	4	38
Changhua County		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Wang Huei-mei		Kuomintang	28 4		DPP	12 5	54
Nantou County		Kuomintang hold		Lin Ming-chen		Kuomintang	17		DPP	8	37
Yunlin County		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Chang Li-shan		DPP	12 1		Kuomintang	7	43
Chiayi County		DPP hold		Weng Chang-liang		DPP	17 1		Kuomintang	9	37
Pingtung County		DPP hold		Pan Men-an		Kuomintang	17 2		DPP	15 3	55
Taitung County		Kuomintang hold		Rao Ching-ling		Kuomintang	21 1		DPP[lower-alpha 3]	1	30
Hualien County		Kuomintang gain from independent		Hsu Chen-wei		Kuomintang	18 2		DPP	3 3	33
Penghu County		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Lai Feng-wei		Kuomintang	4 4		DPP	3 1	19
Keelung City		DPP hold		Lin Yu-chang		Kuomintang	16 2		DPP	6 4	31
Hsinchu City		DPP hold		Lin Chih-chien		Kuomintang	15		DPP	6 1	34
Chiayi City		Kuomintang gain from DPP		Huang Min-hui		Kuomintang	5 1		DPP	4 1	23
Kinmen County		Kuomintang gain from independent		Yang Cheng-wu		Kuomintang	9 6		For Public Good Party	1 1	19
Lienchiang County		Kuomintang hold		Liu Cheng-ying		Kuomintang	7 1		None	N/A	9

Magistrate and mayor elections

Opinion polls

2018 Taiwan magistrate/mayor elections nationwide opinion poll
Poll organization	Date completed	KMT	DPP	Others	Ind.
TPOF	2018-11-08	33.9%	24.2%	－	14.9%
Trend Survey	2018-11-06	36.4%	25.9%	0.8%	15.2%
Taiwan Brain Trust	2018-07-28	29.5%	38.6%	0.4%	10.5%

Results

Subdivision	Electorate	Turnout (%)	Winner				Runner-up				Map
Subdivision	Electorate	Turnout (%)	Name		Votes	%	Name		Votes	%	Map
New Taipei City	3,264,128	62.46		Hou You-yi	1,165,130	57.15		Su Tseng-chang	873,692	42.85
Taipei City	2,164,155	65.37		Ko Wen-je	580,820	41.05		Ting Shou-chung	577,566	40.82
Taoyuan City	1,732,591	59.63		Cheng Wen-tsan	552,330	53.46		Apollo Chen	407,234	39.42
Taichung City	2,213,789	66.12		Lu Shiow-yen	827,996	56.57		Lin Chia-lung	619,855	42.35
Tainan City	1,546,862	62.49		Huang Wei-cher	367,518	38.02		Kao Su-po	312,874	32.37
Kaohsiung City	2,281,338	72.63		Han Kuo-yu	892,545	53.87		Chen Chi-mai	742,239	44.80
Yilan County	373,510	66.97		Lin Zi-miao	123,767	49.48		Chen Ou-po	95,609	38.23
Hsinchu County	427,652	66.03		Yang Wen-ke	107,877	38.20		Hsu Hsin-ying	91,190	32.29
Miaoli County	446,507	68.17		Hsu Yao-chang	175,756	57.74		Hsu Ting-zhen	112,704	37.03
Changhua County	1,031,222	68.89		Wang Huei-mei	377,795	53.18		Wei Ming-ku	283,269	39.87
Nantou County	413,222	70.87		Lin Ming-chen	195,385	66.72		Hung Kuo-hao	97,460	33.28
Yunlin County	565,078	69.29		Chang Li-shan	210,770	53.82		Lee Chin-yung	163,325	41.72
Chiayi County	428,649	66.52		Weng Chang-liang	145,288	50.95		Wu Yu-jen	84,243	29.54
Pingtung County	689,393	68.20		Pan Men-an	262,809	55.90		Su Ching-chuan	197,518	42.01
Taitung County	179,706	66.51		Rao Ching-ling	70,577	59.05		Liu Chao-hao	44,264	37.04
Hualien County	268,817	63.09		Hsu Chen-wei	121,297	71.52		Liu Siao-Mei	43,879	25.87
Penghu County	86,603	61.10		Lai Feng-wei	20,570	38.87		Chen Kuang-fu	17,347	32.78
Keelung City	309,428	60.98		Lin Yu-chang	102,167	54.14		Hsieh Li-kung	86,529	45.86
Hsinchu City	338,323	64.17		Lin Chih-chien	107,612	49.57		Hsu Ming-tsai	60,508	27.87
Chiayi City	212,843	66.81		Huang Min-hui	58,558	41.18		Twu Shiing-jer	56,256	39.56
Kinmen County	117,913	41.75		Yang Cheng-wu	23,520	47.48		Chen Fu-hai	22,719	46.15
Lienchiang County	10,773	68.76		Liu Cheng-ying	4,861	65.62		Chu Hsiu-chen	1,284	17.33

Councillor elections