2019 Taiwanese legislative by-elections

By-elections for the Ninth Legislative Yuan were held in 2019, two on 27 January and four on 16 March, at Taiwan to elect 6 of the 113 members of the Legislative Yuan for the remaining term until 2020.

2019 Taiwanese legislative by-elections

← 2016 27 January 2019 (2019-01-27) and 16 March 2019 (2019-03-16) 2020 →
6 of 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan 57 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Cho Jung-tai Wu Den-yih Party Democratic Progressive Kuomintang Leader since 9 January 2019 20 August 2017 Last election 68 seats, 44.3%[a] 35 seats, 32.9%[a] Seats before 65 32 Seats won 3 2 Seats after 68 34

Background

The by-election was the result of resignations by Pasuya Yao, Democratic Progressive Party legislator for Taipei 2;^[1] Kuomintang legislator Lu Shiow-yen from Taichung 5;^[2] Wang Huei-mei, Kuomintang legislator for Changhua County 1; Huang Wei-cher, Democratic Progressive Party legislator for Tainan 2; and Yang Cheng-wu, Kuomintang legislator for Kinmen County.

All but Yao won election to local offices in the 2018 local election. Under the Article 73 of the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act [zh], if any positions become vacant due to resignation or election to another office, and the vacated term is longer than one year, a by-election shall be completed within three months commencing from the date of resignation.^[3]

Confirmation of by-election

On 30 November 2018, the Central Election Commission announced that by-elections for Taipei 2 and Taichung 5 were to be held on 26 January 2019.^[4] On 4 December 2018, the CEC moved the date to 27 January 2019, as the previously announced date coincided with the General Scholastic Ability Test.^[5] Registration of candidacies for these two seats were open from 10 to 14 December 2018.^[6]

By-elections for vacant seats in Changhua County 1, Tainan 2, Kimnen County and New Taipei 3 were scheduled for 16 March 2019.^[7]

Candidates by main parties

Taipei City Constituency 2

• Democratic Progressive Party called in Taipei councillor Ho Chih-wei to contest the seat ^[8]
• Kuomintang called in Taipei councillor Chen Bing-fu to contest the seat.^[9]
• Independent candidate Chen Si-yu has announced to contest the seat.^[10]

Taichung City Constituency 5

• Kuomintang had seven candidates indicate interest in contesting the by-election. The party nominated ex-legislator Shen Chih-hwei [zh] to contest the seat.
• Democratic Progressive Party has called in Taichung Transportation Bureau director Wang Yi-chuan to contest the seat.

Changhua County Constituency 1

• Kuomintang has 3 candidates indicated interest in contesting the by-election. Polls were done, KMT has nominated current Yunlin-Chiayi-Tainan Regional Branch Workforce Development Agency director Ko Cheng-fang to contest the seat.^[11]
• Democratic Progressive Party has called in former Lukang Township mayor Huang Chen-yen to contest the seat.^[12]

Tainan City Constituency 2

• Democratic Progressive Party has called in Kuo Kuo-wen to contest the seat.
• Kuomintang has called in current Tainan councillor Hsieh Lung-chieh [zh]
• Independent candidate Chen Hsiao-yu has announced to contest the seat after leaving the Democratic Progressive Party.

Kinmen County Constituency

• Kuomintang has called in former Kinmen County Council speaker Hung Li-ping [zh]
• Independent candidate Chen Yu-chen [zh] announced her intentions to contest the seat,^[13] and was stripped of her KMT membership.^[14]

New Taipei City Constituency 3

• Democratic Progressive Party called in New Taipei City branch chairman Yu Tian to contest the seat ^[15]
• Kuomintang called in KMT Vice Chairman of the Cultural Communication Committee Cheng Shih-wei to contest the seat.^[16]

Opinion Polls

Taipei City Constituency 2

Poll Organization	Date of completion	Ho Chih-wei	Chen Bing-fu	Chen Si-yu	Wang Yi-kai	Undecided
TVBS	December 21, 2018	32%	23%	10%	4%	31%
ETtoday	December 27, 2018	24.5%	32.0%	15.5%	-	28%
Formosa[dead link]	January 6, 2019	28.3%	18.8%	10.3%	2.4%	11%

Taichung City Constituency 5

Poll Organization	Date of completion	Shen Chih-hwei [zh]	Wang Yi-chuan	Chiu Yu-shan	Undecided
ETtoday	December 28, 2018	44.3%	19.2%	7.3%	22.8%

Tainan City Constituency 2

Poll Organization	Date of completion	Hsieh Lung-jie	Kuo Kuo-wen	Chen Hsiao-yu	Undecided
China Times	25 February 2019	34.9%	24.3%	11.9%	28.9%
TVBS	4 March 2019	38%	26%	13%	23%
Formosa[usurped]	5 March 2019	29.1%	22.1%	8.8%	40.1%

New Taipei City Constituency 3

Poll Organization	Date of completion	Cheng Shih-wei	Yu Tian	Su Ching-yen	Undecided
DPP	30 January 2019	23.1%	41.0%	4.3%	31.6%
DPP	14 February 2019	23.4%	41.0%	4.2%	31.4%
China Times	25 February 2019	39.3%	33.2%	3.0%	24.5%
TVBS	4 March 2019	40%	36%	3%	21%

Results

Taipei 2

Voted on 27 January 2019.^[17]

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Ho Chih-wei	Democratic Progressive Party	38,591	47.76
	Chen Bing-fu	Kuomintang	31,532	39.03
	Chen Si-yu	Independent	9,689	11.99
	Wang Yi-kai	Independent	897	1.11
	Chen Yuan-chi	National Non-Party Union	89	0.11
Total			80,798	100.00
Valid votes			80,798	99.62
Invalid/blank votes			309	0.38
Total votes			81,107	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			266,907	30.39

Taichung 5

Voted on 27 January 2019.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Shen Chih-hwei	Kuomintang	49,230	57.78
	Wang Yi-chuan	Democratic Progressive Party	32,903	38.62
	Chiu Yu-shan	Independent	2,910	3.42
	Lin Chung-sheng	United Party	157	0.18
Total			85,200	100.00
Valid votes			85,200	99.51
Invalid/blank votes			421	0.49
Total votes			85,621	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			337,848	25.34

New Taipei 3

Voted on 16 March 2019.^[18]

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Yu Tian	Democratic Progressive Party	56,888	52.04
	Cheng Shih-wei	Kuomintang	51,127	46.77
	Su Ching-yen	Independent	1,303	1.19
Total			109,318	100.00
Valid votes			109,318	99.44
Invalid/blank votes			621	0.56
Total votes			109,939	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			261,154	42.10

Changhua 1

Voted on 16 March 2019.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Ko Cheng-fang	Kuomintang	47,835	52.11
	Huang Chen-yen	Democratic Progressive Party	41,946	45.69
	Chi Ching-tang	Independent	2,022	2.20
Total			91,803	100.00
Valid votes			91,803	99.34
Invalid/blank votes			608	0.66
Total votes			92,411	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			252,529	36.59

Tainan 2

Voted on 16 March 2019.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Kuo Kuo-wen	Democratic Progressive Party	62,858	47.05
	Hsieh Lung-jie	Kuomintang	59,194	44.31
	Chen Hsiao-yu	Independent	10,424	7.80
	Yang Hsiao-ju	Independent	492	0.37
	Wu Ping-hui	Independent	350	0.26
	Hsu Kuo-tong	Independent	269	0.20
Total			133,587	100.00
Valid votes			133,587	99.49
Invalid/blank votes			688	0.51
Total votes			134,275	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			301,571	44.53

Kinmen

Voted on 16 March 2019.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Chen Yu-chen	Independent	7,117	28.69
	Chen Tsang-chiang	Independent	6,020	24.27
	Hung Li-ping	Kuomintang	5,681	22.90
	Tsai Hsi-hu	Independent	5,175	20.86
	Lu Kuan-yu	Independent	570	2.30
	Hung Chih-heng	Kinmen Sorghum Party	240	0.97
Total			24,803	100.00
Valid votes			24,803	99.34
Invalid/blank votes			165	0.66
Total votes			24,968	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			117,730	21.21

Notes

1. Average of constituency and party-list votes