2022 Taiwanese local elections

Local elections were held in Taiwan on 26 November and 18 December 2022 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. The election was held alongside the 2022 Taiwanese constitutional referendum.

2022 Taiwanese local elections

← 2018 26 November – 18 December 2022 (2022-11-26 – 2022-12-18)[1][2] 2026 →
22 magistrates/mayors and others[a]
First party Second party Third party   Leader Eric Chu Tsai Ing-wen Ko Wen-je Party Kuomintang Democratic Progressive People's Leader since 5 October 2021 20 May 2020 6 August 2019 Last election 15 seats 6 seats New party Seats before 14[b] 6[c] 1[d] Seats won 14 5 2[e] Seat change 1 1 2 Popular vote 5,761,851[f] 4,776,258[f] 534,848[f] Percentage 50.14%[f] 41.57%[f] 4.65%[f] Swing 1.35 pp 2.41 pp 4.65 pp Councillors 367 277 14 Councillors change 27 39 14
KMT hold      DPP hold      TPP hold      IND hold      KMT gain      DPP gain      TPP gain      IND gain

The election resulted in a big loss for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as all the mayoral and magisterial political candidates in the north were defeated. Tsai Ing-wen, the incumbent President of the Republic of China, resigned as party head after the poll, triggering a by-election for the position.

Background

The Democratic Progressive Party announced in November 2021 that, prior to the 2022 elections, the party's chairperson would select candidates for mayoral posts in the special municipalities. Candidates would then be subject to approval by the party's central executive committee. Localities in which DPP-affiliated incumbents were ineligible for a third consecutive term will hold party primaries. To contest local offices held by Kuomintang members, the Democratic Progressive Party planned to host internal discussions to propose candidates and permit the party leader to nominate interested candidates for central executive committee approval.^[3]

It was reported in September 2020 that the Kuomintang would rely on opinion polls and satisfaction surveys to nominate candidates prior to the 2022 elections.^[4] Though the party had supported a successful recall [zh] of Legislative Yuan member Chen Po-wei of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, the KMT lost the subsequent by-election to replace him, and was unsuccessful in another recall [zh] targeting independent legislator Freddy Lim. In addition to these electoral losses, proposals backed by the Kuomintang during the 2021 Taiwanese referendum also failed.^[5]

The New Power Party began naming candidates for local office in January 2022.^[6] In June, for the first time in party history, NPP-backed candidates for mayoral and magisterial posts were selected.^[7]

On 14 January 2022, the Central Election Commission announced that local elections would be held on 26 November 2022.^[8] After the death of candidate Huang Shao-tsung on 2 November 2022, the Chiayi mayoral election was rescheduled for 18 December 2022.^[1][2] Over 17,000 polling stations were open, from 08:00 to 16:00 on 26 November 2022, and more than 11,000 offices were contested in the election.^[9][10]

In the run-up to the elections, Taiwanese law enforcement carried out raids under the Anti-Infiltration Act on individuals suspected of buying votes on behalf of China.^[11][12]

Results

The KMT won fourteen mayoral or magisterial seats, and the DPP won five seats.^[13][14][15] Taiwan People's Party (TPP) gained their mayoral seat in Hsinchu City and Kinmen County after chairman Ko Wen-je ineligible for re-election in Taipei. The election result, although broadly in line with expectations, was still a major defeat for DPP which was the worst electoral performance in the party's history. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, whose strategy to frame local elections as showing defiance to China failed, subsequently resigned as party chairwoman.^[16][17]

Vote summary

Vote summary of election at municipality and county level^[g]

Party		Magistrates, mayors					Councillors
		Popular votes		±pp	Seats	+/-	Popular votes		±pp	Seats	+/-
	Kuomintang	5,761,851	50.14%	1.35	14		4,306,343	37.75%	2.64	367	27
	Democratic Progressive Party	4,776,258	41.57%	2.41	5	1	3,796,575	33.28%	2.23	277	39
	Taiwan People's Party	534,848	4.65%	New	2	New	456,627	4.00%	New	14	New
	Non-Partisan Solidarity Union	–	–	–	–	–	108,924	0.95%		7	2
	New Power Party	70,503	0.61%		0		177,666	1.56%		6	10
	Taiwan Solidarity Union	–	–	–	–	–	38,193	0.33%		3	2
	Taiwan Statebuilding Party	–	–	–	–	–	124,070	1.09%		2	2
	People First Party	–	–	–	–	–	11,875	0.10%		2	6
	New Party	–	–	–	–	–	34,422	0.30%		1	1
	Social Democratic Party	–	–	–	–	–	28,417	0.25%		1
	Green Party	–	–	–	–	–	13,901	0.12%		1	2
	Labor Party	–	–	–	–	–	7,308	0.06%		1	1
	Zheng Shen Ming Party	–	–	–	–	–	3,691	0.03%	New	1	New
	Taiwan Obasan Political Equality Party [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	40,704	0.36%	New	0	New
	Taiwan Animal Protection Party [zh]	2,367	0.02%	N/A	0	N/A	4,480	0.04%	N/A	0	N/A
	Taiwan Renewal Party	1,851	0.02%	New	0	New	2,845	0.02%	New	0	New
	The Left Party [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	1,498	0.01%		0
	Chinese Unification Promotion Party	–	–	–	–	–	1,160	0.01%		0
	Tien-yi Party [zh]	919	0.01%	New	0	New	–	–	–	–	–
	Golden Power Party	–	–	–	–	–	816	0.01%		0
	Jun People Party (台灣君民黨)	–	–	–	–	–	563	0.00%		0
	Happy People Party (台灣新住民黨)	–	–	–	–	–	529	0.00%	New	0	New
	Republican Party (共和黨)	316	0.00%	N/A	0	N/A	67	0.00%	N/A	0	N/A
	Sovereign State for Formosa & Pescadores Party [zh]	256	0.00%	New	0	New	–	–	–	–	–
	Taiwan Motive Force Party (前進黨)	–	–	–	–	–	265	0.00%	New	0	New
	中國和平統一黨	–	–	–	–	–	182	0.00%	N/A	0	N/A
	Dragon Party (龍黨)	174	0.00%	N/A	0	N/A	–	–	–	–	–
	Taiwan People's Communist Party	–	–	–	–	–	165	0.00%		0
	National Socialist Chinese Labour Party (中國國家社會主義勞工黨)	–	–	–	–	–	99	0.00%		0
	Independent	707,021	6.15%		1		2,246,798	19.69%		227	7
Total		11,490,975	100.00%		22		11,408,183	100.00%		910	2

Vote summary of election in townships, cities, indigenous districts, and villages^[g]

Party		Mayors, chief administrators					Council representatives					Village chiefs
		Popular votes		+/-	Seats	+/-	Popular votes		+/-	Seats	+/-	Popular votes		+/-	Seats	+/-
	Kuomintang	990,848	31.64%		76		472,741	15.10%		294		1,545,742	14.25%		953
	Democratic Progressive Party	897,075	28.64%		35		281,153	8.98%		123		409,771	3.78%		226
	Taiwan People's Party	11,569	0.37%		0		25,686	0.82%		9		17,276	0.16%		3
	Labor Party	6,625	0.21%		0		3,755	0.12%		1		–	–	–	–	–
	New Power Party	–	–	–	–	–	5,922	0.19%		1		1,768	0.02%		1
	Chinese Unification Promotion Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,291	0.02%		2
	People's Democratic Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,936	0.04%		2
	Reunification Alliance Party [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,180	0.02%		1
	台灣澎友黨	–	–	–	–	–	250	0.01%		1		329	0.00%		0
	全國人民黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	198	0.00%		1
	Green Party	–	–	–	–	–	2,120	0.07%		0		–	–	–	–	–
	People Union Party [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1,263	0.01%		0
	中華文化復興在理黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	947	0.01%		0
	Tianzhou Peaceful Unity Family Party [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	845	0.01%		0
	新華勞動黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	685	0.01%		0
	Taiwan Labor Party [zh]	502	0.02%		0		48	0.00%		0		–	–	–	–	–
	Youth Sunshine Party [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	467	0.00%		0
	Tian Yi Dang [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	397	0.00%		0
	經濟黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	360	0.00%		0
	前進黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	350	0.00%		0
	台灣進步黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	256	0.00%		0
	正黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	199	0.00%		0
	台灣學習黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	181	0.00%		0
	China Tide Association [zh]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	132	0.00%		0
	Chinese People's Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	125	0.00%		0
	Civil Party	–	–	–	–	–	137	0.00%		0		31	0.00%		0
	共和黨	–	–	–	–	–	114	0.00%		0		–	–	–	–	–
	台灣經濟發展黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	86	0.00%		0
	People First Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	71	0.00%		0
	For Public Good Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	51	0.00%		0
	新生黨	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	14	0.00%		0
	Independent	1,225,291	39.12%		93		2,339,118	74.71%		1,709		8,856,767	81.65%		6,551
Total		3,131,910	100.00%		204		3,131,244	100.00%		2,139	10	10,846,732	100.00%		7,748	12

Elected officials and councils

Elected magistrates/mayors and council composition in the 2022 Taiwanese local election

Subdivision	Magistrate/mayor				Council
	Party result		Elect[h]		First party		Seats[i]	Second party		Seats	Total seats[18]
Taipei City		KMT gain from TPP		Chiang Wan-an		KMT	30 1		DPP	21 2	61
New Taipei City		KMT hold		Hou You-yi		KMT	32 1		DPP	28 3	66
Taoyuan City		KMT gain from DPP		Chang San-cheng		KMT	29 3		DPP	24 6	63
Taichung City		KMT hold		Lu Shiow-yen		KMT	32		DPP	24 1	65
Tainan City		DPP hold		Huang Wei-cher		DPP	28 3		KMT	15 1	57
Kaohsiung City		DPP hold		Chen Chi-mai		KMT	29 4		DPP	27 2	65
Yilan County		KMT hold		Lin Zi-miao		KMT	13		DPP	11 3	34
Hsinchu County		KMT hold		Yang Wen-ke		KMT	19		DPP	6 4	37
Miaoli County		Independent gain from KMT		Chung Tung-chin		KMT	7 7		DPP	7 3	38
Changhua County		KMT hold		Wang Huei-mei		KMT	27 1		DPP	16 4	54
Nantou County		KMT hold		Hsu Shu-hua		KMT	13 4		DPP	8	37
Yunlin County		KMT hold		Chang Li-shan		DPP	11 1		KMT	9 2	43
Chiayi County		DPP hold		Weng Chang-liang		DPP	18 1		KMT	8 1	37
Pingtung County		DPP hold		Chou Chun-mi		KMT	19 2		DPP	13 2	55
Taitung County		KMT hold		Rao Ching-ling		KMT	18 3		DPP	2 1	30
Hualien County		KMT hold		Hsu Chen-wei		KMT	18		DPP	3	33
Penghu County		DPP gain from KMT		Chen Kuang-fu		KMT	4		DPP	3	19
Keelung City		KMT gain from DPP		George Hsieh		KMT	13 3		DPP	12 6	31
Hsinchu City		TPP gain from DPP		Ann Kao		KMT	12 3		DPP	8 2	34
Chiayi City		KMT hold		Huang Min-hui		KMT	6 1		DPP	6 2	23
Kinmen County		TPP gain from KMT		Chen Fu-hai		KMT	7 2		DPP	1 1	19
Lienchiang County		KMT hold		Wang Chung-ming		KMT	7		Independent	—	9

Magistrate and mayor elections

Results

2022 Taiwan Magistrate/Mayor Election Results^[19]

Subdivision	Electorate	Turnout (%)	Winner				Runner-up				Map
			Name		Votes	%	Name		Votes	%
New Taipei City	3,316,517	56.60%		Hou You-yi	1,152,555	62.42%		Lin Chia-lung	693,976	37.58%
Taipei City	2,026,769	67.70%		Chiang Wan-an	575,590	42.29%		Chen Shih-chung	434,558	31.93%
Taoyuan City	1,825,127	59.46%		Chang San-cheng	557,572	52.02%		Cheng Yun-peng	428,983	40.03%
Taichung City	2,274,107	60.01%		Lu Shiow-yen	799,107	59.35%		Tsai Chi-chang	524,224	38.93%
Tainan City	1,548,203	58.68%		Huang Wei-cher	433,684	48.80%		Hsieh Lung-chieh [zh]	387,731	43.63%
Kaohsiung City	2,282,623	58.61%		Chen Chi-mai	766,147	58.10%		Ko Chih-en	529,607	40.16%
Yilan County	374,779	64.28%		Lin Zi-miao	119,421	50.76%		Chiang Tsung-yuan [zh]	96,779	41.13%
Hsinchu County	452,720	58.98%		Yang Wen-ke	163,662	63.36%		Chou Chiang-chieh [zh]	83,683	32.40%
Miaoli County	443,908	67.20%		Chung Tung-chin	124,603	42.66%		Hsu Ting-chen [zh]	91,260	31.24%
Changhua County	1,028,606	64.90%		Wang Huei-mei	369,133	56.75%		Huang Hsiu-fang	272,817	41.94%
Nantou County	406,195	69.08%		Hsu Shu-hua	154,256	55.99%		Frida Tsai	117,993	42.83%
Yunlin County	559,273	67.35%		Chang Li-shan	207,519	56.57%		Liu Chien-kuo	152,620	41.60%
Chiayi County	422,568	67.32%		Weng Chang-liang	171,777	62.85%		Wang Yu-min [zh]	101,517	37.15%
Pingtung County	679,330	67.18%		Chou Chun-mi	217,537	49.09%		Su Ching-chuan	206,460	46.59%
Taitung County	177,853	64.79%		Rao Ching-ling	68,661	61.22%		Liu Chao-hao [zh]	41,104	36.65%
Hualien County	266,058	57.56%		Hsu Chen-wei	96,645	64.73%		Kolas Yotaka	47,845	32.04%
Penghu County	90,360	58.51%		Chen Kuang-fu	18,777	36.64%		Lai Feng-wei	17,081	33.33%
Keelung City	307,913	60.16%		George Hsieh	96,784	52.92%		Tsai Shih-ying [zh]	71,354	39.01%
Hsinchu City	350,758	62.94%		Ann Kao	98,121	45.02%		Shen Hui-hung [zh]	77,764	35.68%
Chiayi City	93,813	43.99%		Huang Min-hui	59,874	63.82%		Lee Chun-yi	32,790	34.95%
Kinmen County	122,294	39.32%		Chen Fu-hai	23,248	49.34%		Yang Cheng-wu	19,340	41.05%
Lienchiang County	11,810	72.99%		Wang Chung-ming	4,337	50.99%		Tsao Erh-yuan	3,582	42.12%

Councillor elections

Nominations

Province	County	Members	KMT	DPP	TPP	NPP	TSP	GPT	NP	PFP	NPSU	Other	IND
Special municipality
New Taipei		66	38	36	11	3	1		3		4	6	26
Taipei		61	32	28	8	5	1	1	6			8	28
Taoyuan		63	36	32	7	6	1	1	1	1		3	43
Taichung		65	34	34	11	5	4					5	39
Tainan		57	19	34	6	3	5				3	4	32
Kaohsiung		65	35	36	5	6	7				2	3	34
Taiwan Province
	Yilan County	34	15	16	2	2	2			1		1	20
	Hsinchu County	37	27	9	4	2		2				2	27
	Miaoli County	38	10	10	4	3						1	45
	Changhua County	54	28	23	4	2						2	26
	Nantou County	37	20	14	2							2	31
	Yunlin County	43	9	16	3							2	39
	Chiayi County	37	10	23									24
	Pingtung County	55	24	22	1	1	1					1	51
	Taitung County	30	23	6	1							1	30
	Hualien County	33	28	7	2	1							20
	Penghu County	19	6	4	1								17
	Keelung	31	19	13	5	2				3			14
	Hsinchu	34	15	8	7	4		1				1	26
	Chiayi	23	10	9	1	1	2					1	16
Fujian Province	Kinmen County	19	9	1	1								21
	Lienchiang County	9	9	1									5
Total		910	457	382	86	46	24	5	10	5	10	43	618

Results

Main article: zh:2022年中華民國直轄市議員及縣市議員選舉選舉區投票結果列表

Province	County	Members	KMT	DPP	TPP	NPP	TSP	GPT	NP	PFP	NPSU	Other	IND
Special municipality
New Taipei		66	32	28	1						2		3
Taipei		61	30	21	4				1			1	4
Taoyuan		63	29	24									10
Taichung		65	32	24	1	1							7
Tainan		57	15	28			1				2	1	10
Kaohsiung		65	29	27			1				2	1	5
Taiwan Province
	Yilan County	34	13	11								1	9
	Hsinchu County	37	19	6	1							1	10
	Miaoli County	38	7	7		1							23
	Changhua County	54	27	16	2								9
	Nantou County	37	13	8	1								15
	Yunlin County	43	9	11	1							1	21
	Chiayi County	37	8	18									11
	Pingtung County	55	13	19									23
	Taitung County	30	18	2									10
	Hualien County	33	18	3	1								11
	Penghu County	19	4	3							1		11
	Keelung	31	13	12						2			4
	Hsinchu	34	12	8	2	3		1					8
	Chiayi	23	6	6		1							10
Fujian Province	Kinmen County	19	7	1									11
	Lienchiang County	9	7										2
Total		910	367	277	14	6	2	1	1	2	7	6	227

Speaker/Deputy Speaker election
Special municipality		Speaker (Party)	Deputy Speaker (Party)
Province	County
New Taipei		Chiang Ken-huang [zh] (Kuomintang)	Chen Hung-yuan [zh] (Kuomintang)
Taipei		Tai Hsi-Chin [zh] (Kuomintang)	Yeh Lin-chuan [zh] (Kuomintang)
Taoyuan		Chiu Yi-sheng [zh] (Kuomintang)	Li Hsiao-chung [zh] (Kuomintang)
Taichung		Chang Ching-chao [zh] (Kuomintang)	Yen Li-min [zh] (Kuomintang)
Tainan		Chiu Li-li [zh] (Democratic Progressive Party)	Lin Chih-chan [zh] (Democratic Progressive Party)
Kaohsiung		Kang Yu-cheng [zh] ( Democratic Progressive Party)	Tseng Chun-chieh [zh] (Independent)
Taiwan Province	Yilan County	Chang Sheng-te [zh] (Kuomintang)	Chen Han-chung [zh] (Independent)
	Hsinchu County	Chang Chen-jung [zh] (Kuomintang)	Wang Ping-han [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Miaoli County	Li Wen-pin [zh] (Kuomintang)	Chang Shu-fen [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Changhua County	Hsieh Tien-lin [zh] (Kuomintang)	Hsu Yuan-lung [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Nantou County	Ho Sheng-feng [zh] (Kuomintang)	Pan Yi-chuan [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Yunlin County	Shen Tsung-lung [zh] (Kuomintang)	Tsai Yung-te [zh] (Independent)
	Chiayi County	Chang Ming-ta [zh] (Democratic Progressive Party)	Chen Yi-yueh [zh] (Democratic Progressive Party)
	Pingtung County	Chou Tien-lun [zh] (Kuomintang)	Lu Wen-jui [zh] (Independent)
	Taitung County	Wu Hsiu-hua [zh] (Kuomintang)	Lin Tsung-han [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Hualien County	Chang Chun [zh] (Independent)	Hsu Hsueh-yu [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Penghu County	Liu Chen Chao-ling [zh] (Kuomintang)	Lan Kai-yuan [zh] (Independent)
	Keelung	Tung Tzu-wei [zh] (Democratic Progressive Party)	Yang Hsiu-yu [zh] (People First Party)
	Hsinchu	Hsu Hsiu-jui [zh] (Kuomintang)	Yu Pang-yen [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Chiayi	Chen Tzu-wen [zh] (Independent)	Chang Jung-tsang [zh] (Independent)
Fujian Province	Kinmen County	Hung Yun-tien [zh] (Kuomintang)	Ouyang Yi-hsiung [zh] (Kuomintang)
	Lienchiang County	Chang Yung-chiang [zh] (Kuomintang)	Lin Ming-yang [zh] (Kuomintang)

Notes

1. • 910 councillors
   • 204 township/city mayors and indigenous district chief administrators
   • 2,139 township/city council representatives
   • 7,748 village chiefs

   Figures in this infobox are for magistrate/mayor elections unless otherwise noted. Special municipalities are counted with counties/cities despite being counted separately in official statistics
2. Han Kuo-yu was recalled in 2020.
3. Chen Chi-mai won the by-election after Han Kuo-yu's recall. Lin Chih-chien resigned on 8 July 2022.
4. Ko Wen-je won the 2018 Taipei mayoral race as an independent and later created the TPP in 2019.
5. Kinmen County Magistrate Chen Fu-hai secretly joined Taiwan People's Party before the election and was elected without party membership
6. Magisterial and mayoral elections only
7. Vote/seat changes are compared with last local election
8. Bold names indicate newly-elected leaders
9. Bold figures indicate majority