Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party

The chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party is the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The incumbent chairman is Lai Ching-te, elected in January 2023.

Chairperson of Democratic Progressive Party
民主進步黨主席
Party emblem
Incumbent Lai Ching-te since 18 January 2023
Status	Head of party
Seat	Taipei
Nominator	Political parties
Appointer	Direct party member vote (as Opposition Party) President assumes position (as Ruling Party)
Term length	Two years, renewable once
Formation	28 November 1986
First holder	Chiang Peng-chien
Salary	$1.5 million TWD annually
Website	www.dpp.org.tw

Chairmanship

In the early days of the DPP, the tenure of chairman was only one year. It was extended to two years in around 1990.

After amendments to the constitution of the DPP in 2000, the incumbent President of the Republic of China, if a member of the Party, shall be the chairperson of the DPP upon assuming office and until the end of their tenure as President. When in opposition, the chairman shall be directly elected by members of the DPP with a two-year term of office, renewable once.

When vacancy of chairmanship occurs and that the remaining term of office is within a year, the Central Committee shall elect a new chair amongst themselves. Otherwise, a by-election shall be held for party members to elect a successor. Before the amendments to the constitution, the vice-chairperson shall be acting chairman during vacancy.

List

  denotes interim chairman

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Mandate	Party session	Notes
1		Chiang Peng-chien	28 November 1986	20 December 1987	1986 (unopposed)	1st
2		Yao Chia-wen	20 December 1987	30 October 1988	1987	2nd
3		Huang Hsin-chieh	30 October 1988	20 January 1992	1988	3rd
					1990	4th
4		Hsu Hsin-liang	20 January 1992	4 December 1993 (Resigned)	1992	5th	Resigned after 1993 local elections defeat
—		Shih Ming-teh	4 December 1993	18 July 1994	Vice-chair as acting Chair
5			18 July 1994	23 March 1996 (Resigned)	1994	6th	Resigned after 1996 presidential election defeat
—		Chang Chun-hung	23 March 1996	18 July 1996	Vice-chair as acting Chair
(4)		Hsu Hsin-liang	18 July 1996	18 July 1998	1996	7th
6		Lin Yi-hsiung	18 July 1998	20 April 2000	1998 Lin Yi-hsiung – 58,560 (unopposed)	8th
7		Frank Hsieh Chang-ting	20 April 2000	21 July 2002	2000 Frank Hsieh – 53,510 (unopposed)	9th
8		Chen Shui-bian	21 July 2002	11 December 2004 (Resigned)	President as Party Chair	10th	Resigned after 2004 legislative election defeat
						11th
—		Ker Chien-ming	11 December 2004	15 January 2005	Vice-chair as acting Chair
9		Su Tseng-chang	15 January 2005	3 December 2005 (Resigned)	2005 Su Tseng-chang – 68,406 (unopposed)		Resigned after 2005 local elections defeat
—		Annette Lü Hsiu-lien (Interim)	3 December 2005	15 January 2006	Vice-chair as acting Chair
10		Yu Shyi-kun (Resigned)	15 January 2006	21 September 2007	2006	12th	Resigned amid corruption charges
—		Chai Trong-rong	21 September 2007	15 October 2007	Vice-chair as acting Chair
(8)		Chen Shui-bian	15 October 2007	12 January 2008 (Resigned)	President as Party Chair		Resigned after 2008 legislative election defeat
—		Frank Hsieh Chang-ting	12 January 2008	20 May 2008	Vice-chair as acting Chair
11		Tsai Ing-wen	20 May 2008	17 March 2011 (Temporary leave)	2008	13th	Temporary leave of chairwomanship to focus on 2011 presidential party primary.
					2010 Tsai Ing-wen – 78,192 You Ching – 8,406	14th
—		Ker Chien-ming (Interim)	17 March 2011	27 April 2011	Vice-chair as acting Chair
(11)		Tsai Ing-wen	27 April 2011	29 February 2012 (Resigned)	Resumes chair		Resigned after 2012 presidential and legislative elections defeat
—		Chen Chu	29 February 2012	30 May 2012	Vice-chair as acting Chair
(9)		Su Tseng-chang	30 May 2012	28 May 2014	2012 Su Tseng-chang – 55,894 Su Huan-chih – 23,281 Wu Rong-i – 16,315 Chai Trong-rong – 12,497 Hsu Hsin-liang – 2,763	15th
(11)		Tsai Ing-wen	28 May 2014	24 November 2018 (Resigned)	2014 Tsai Ing-wen – 85,410 Kuo Tai-ling – 5,734	16th	Resigned after 2018 local elections defeat
					President as Party Chair	17th
						18th
—		Lin Yu-chang	28 November 2018	9 January 2019	Nominated by Central Committee
12		Cho Jung-tai	9 January 2019	20 May 2020	2019 Cho Jung-tai – 24,699 Michael You Ying-lung – 9,323
(11)		Tsai Ing-wen	20 May 2020	26 November 2022 (Resigned)	President as Party Chair	19th	Resigned after 2022 local elections defeat
						20th
—		Chen Chi-mai	30 November 2022	18 January 2023	Nominated by Central Committee
13		William Lai Ching-te	18 January 2023	Incumbent	2023

Timeline

See also

• List of secretaries-general of the Democratic Progressive Party
• List of leaders of the Kuomintang
• List of secretaries-general of the Kuomintang