National electoral calendar 2012

This national electoral calendar for the year 2012 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2012 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.

January

February

Republic of China presidential election, 2012

The election for the 13th-term President and Vice-President of the Republic of China was held in Taiwan on 14 January 2012. The election was held concurrently with legislative elections. It was the fifth direct election for the President of the Republic of China. Prior to 1996, the President was elected by the ROC's National Assembly and not directly by the people.

Incumbent Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected as President with 51.6% of the vote. DPP challenger Tsai Ing-wen resigned her post as chairperson of the DPP following her election defeat.

Background

The Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) ticket won a landslide victory in 2008 over the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party, with a 2.2 million vote margin on 58% of the valid votes.

The administration of Ma Ying-jeou has been more friendly in policy towards the People's Republic of China and also signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a preferential trade agreement between the governments of the PRC (China) and the ROC (Taiwan).