[3] Though more popular and consistently ranked higher in the polls, the outspoken former Taiwan governor James Soong failed to gain the Kuomintang's nomination.

[9] This, combined with the fact that Chang had connections to both the Democratic Progressive Party and the KMT reinforced Soong's campaign message of bridging political and cultural divide.

Soong's strategy was to openly admit his past wrongdoing and present his insider status as an advantage: i.e. that he could most easily tackle the corruption because of his experience with it; however, many saw his credibility as a reformer as broken by his financial scandal.

[2] Having run for the 1996 election on a radical independence platform and lost by a landslide,[17][18] the DPP in May 1999 moderated its stance[19] by issuing the "Resolution on the Future of Taiwan".

[20] The resolution accepted the status quo and promoted the moderate view that Taiwan was already independent, so any formal declaration would not be urgently necessary, if at all,[21] and Chen presented a more conciliatory stance regarding the mainland.

[18] Also included was the pledge that any change in Taiwan's international status will have to be done through a referendum,[20] thus alleviating the fear that, if elected, a DPP government would unilaterally declare independence without popular approval.

[25] All independent presidential tickets were required to turn in a petition of 224,000 names to the Central Election Commission to confirm their candidacy and appear on the ballot.

[2] As DPP Chairman, Hsu had moderated the platform of the party, promoting reconciliation with the People's Republic of China and the opening of direct links,[27] a move not then supported by the KMT.

[31] Li, who supported "one country, two systems",[32][33] said he took the election as an opportunity to educate the people in Taiwan on his ideas, and show them the nation's "dark side".

[35] A white paper issued by the People's Republic of China (PRC) prior to the election had mentioned that they would "not permit the 'Taiwan question' to drag on", which generated condemnation from American leaders, including John Kerry and Stanley Roth; along with a downturn in the stock market, but little in terms of a Taiwanese reaction.

[44][13] Soong Chu-yu's financial scandals, Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh's endorsement, and arguably the last minute saber-rattling by the PRC tipped the balance to Chen's favor.

[24][18][45] Chen's victory marked the first time since the retreat from the mainland that a party other than the KMT won the presidency, ending 50 years of rule by the latter, which was partly under a one-party state.

[49] The protesters blocked the entrances to the building and kept Lee holed in his office for hours until riot police with water cannon were able to open a path for the motorcade.

[57] Chen's more pro-independence stance initially caused concerns on behalf of the United States to raise such that they sent senior officials to the PRC to ease tensions.