2006 Democratic Progressive Party chairmanship election


The Democratic Progressive Party chairmanship by-election of 2006 was held on January 15, 2006 in Taiwan. It was the tenth chairmanship election conducted by the party. In December 2005, chairperson Su Tseng-chang resigned as a result of failing to win ten of the twenty-three positions in the 2005 local elections.

Candidates

There were many hopefuls that publicly expressed their desire for the chairmanship. These politicians withdrew after acting chairperson Annette Lu withdrew her campaign. Only three candidates formally announced their bids for chairperson:
Yu won the race with over 54% of the votes. However, the voter turnout was only 19.96%, the lowest turnout in the party's history. This was significantly different from the 2005 Kuomintang election, which had a voter turnout of 50.17%.
It is commonly believed that Yu's successful campaign symbolized the fact that President Chen Shui-bian's Justice Alliance was still in power within the party. After Su Tseng-chang, also a member of the Justice Alliance, was appointed the premier, his term was relatively more stable as a result of the mutual cooperation between the three leaders.
On the other hand, former chairperson Lin Yi-hsiung left the party as a result of the loss of Wong Chin-chu.