Taiwan's first direct presidential election

On March 23, 1996 Taiwan's voters chose their president directly for the first time. Lee Teng-hui, the incumbent from the Kuomintang (KMT), won about 54 percent against three rivals, including the Democratic Progressive Party's Peng Ming-min, with a turnout of roughly three quarters of the electorate. The campaign took place under threat. China, which claims Taiwan, fired missiles into waters near the island's main ports in the weeks before the vote, hoping to intimidate voters, and the U.S. sent two aircraft carrier groups to the area.¹²³

After the Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan in 1949, it ruled the island as a one-party state under martial law, which lasted until 1987. Under President Chiang Ching-kuo, opposition parties were tolerated and martial law ended. His successor Lee, who became the island's first Taiwan-born leader in 1988, oversaw reforms in the early 1990s: the old parliament elected on the mainland in 1947 was retired, the legislature was elected by the people in 1992, and constitutional changes in 1994 provided for direct presidential elections. The 1996 vote completed the transition. In 2000 the opposition's Chen Shui-bian won the presidency, the island's first peaceful transfer of power between parties.²³