Republic of China legislative election, 1969

In December 1969 the first supplementary election took place for members of both legislative bodies of the Republic of China, the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan.

Between 1949 and 1969 both bodies were composed almost exclusively of delegates elected in 1948, when the Government was on the Mainland. After moving to Taiwan the elected position of the representatives of provinces on the mainland in both the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan was retained under the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion. However the number of delegates began to decline because of old age and attrition. In March 1966 the National Assembly approved regulations to make possible the replacement of retired members by elected members rather than leave the seats vacant or appoint members who had ran the 1948 election unsuccessfully. On July 1 1969 the President announced a direct election was to be held for 15 new members to the National Assembly and 11 to the Legislative Yuan, all representing Taiwan Province and the special municipality of Taipei.

Turnout for the election of the National Assembly was 54,72% and for the Legislative Yuan 55,00%. All 15 newly elected members of the National Assembly belonged to the Kuomintang. Of the 11 newly elected members of the Legislative Yuan 8 belonged to the Kuomintang and 3 were independent. All elected were born Taiwanese.

The newly elected delegates comprised only about 1 percent and 3 percent of the National Assembly and the Legislative Yuan respectively. Still, on the assumption the island was part of China, the election gave Taiwan a greater representation in these legislative organs than was constitutionally justified by its population.

Further reading

Copper, John F. and George P. Chen (1984), Taiwan’s Elections. Political Development and Democratization in the Republic of China, Occasional Papers/Reprints Series in Contemporary Asian Studies, no. 5-1984 (64), ISBN 0-942182-66-9