[1][2] Kuomintang (KMT) nominee Ma Ying-jeou won with 58% of the vote, ending eight years of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule.

The KMT ticket was officially formed as of June 23, 2007, with Ma announcing his choice for running mate to be former premier Vincent Siew.

The election occurred as incumbent President Chen Shui-bian's popularity remained at record lows following mass rallies in September 2006 urging him to resign amid implications of corruption.

Leading candidates for the Democratic Progressive Party "Four Heavenly Kings" (a less literal translation in English that perhaps gives the meaning more clearly is the "Four Heavyweights") sans incumbent President Chen Shui-bian (who was barred from running due to term limits)—Frank Hsieh, Su Tseng-chang, and Yu Shyi-kun—and incumbent vice president Annette Lu.

[10] In December, Lee Teng-hui, considered the "spiritual leader" of the TSU, rescinded his support of Chen in 2004, and urged citizens against voting for the DPP in upcoming legislative elections.

Ma Ying-jeou began his campaign before his announcement for candidacy, taking trips Europe and Japan in 2006, nominally to obtain business deals for Taipei, but covered widely by the media for his foreign policy remarks.

On February 13, 2007 Ma was indicted for misuse of official funds as Taipei Mayor and announced his candidacy as he resigned the KMT chairmanship.

Other leading candidates were Wu Den-yih, incumbent KMT general secretary; Jason Lin, CEO of Uni-President Group; and Tsai Ing-wen, a DPP member and former vice-premier.

[citation needed] The Taiwan-wide events were meant to energize supporters in the home stretch of a race that has so far lacked the passion and commitment of presidential elections in 2000 and 2004.

[15] Since selecting Vincent Siew as his running mate, Ma announced that the focus of his election campaign was the recovery of the Taiwanese economy.

The KMT attempted to capitalize on Ma's public image as a man of integrity, which stemmed from his investigations into vote-buying within his own party while he served as Justice Minister in the early 1990s.

Ma maintained his innocence and stated that the indictment amounted to political prosecution and he would not give up his run for presidency even if found guilty.

DPP candidate Frank Hsieh came under investigation for similar charges in irregularity and misuse of funds while he served as mayor of Kaohsiung.

On August 12, 2007, Ma was acquitted of misusing the funds, but one of his office clerks was found guilty and faced a year in prison for his own failures in administrative duties.

The strategy of both sides, as was the case in 2004, was to persuade voters that it can best maintain the status quo and protect Taiwan from coerced unification by China.

While the smaller, more radical TSU favors immediate moves to rename the country as Republic of Taiwan, the much more mainstream DPP under Chen Shui-bian has taken a more moderate position regarding independence during incumbency.

He has also stated that during his first term of office, he will not discuss unification, make no changes to the ROC constitution, and will not personally meet Hu Jintao.

The DPP, in contrast, opposes recognizing One China (a prerequisite set by the PRC for negotiations), and no official talks have occurred under the Chen administration.

Difficulty comes from the PRC's refusal to negotiate unless the Taiwanese counterparty accepts the one-China principle under the 1992 consensus, which only allows the KMT to start three links in early incumbency.

The naming controversy of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the legality of the Central Government's name-change administrative order was another topic of heated debate.

President-Elect Ma Ying-jeou pledged that he would revert the name changes of national landmarks, government organizations, and government-owned corporations conducted by the Chen Shui-bian administration.

During the campaign, Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh and DPP legislators questioned Ma Ying-jeou's loyalty to the Republic of China and to the people of Taiwan.

It is only a way to live or travel in the USTwo TVBS political opinion poll conducted after Hsieh released his statement showed a slight dip in Ma Ying-jeou's support, but was well within the margin of error.

[16][20] Four pan-blue legislators attempted to enter the Hsieh election headquarters without permission, with the reason that they were there to investigate the claim that the government provided them office space for free.

The pan-green called it an illegal search and said the pan-blue camp will carry out further similar actions if they controlled both the executive and legislature.

[citation needed] On March 16, 2008, standing for DPP candidate Frank Hsieh at a rally in Taichung, Chuang Kuo-jung, a deputy secretary for the Department of Education, called Ma Ying-jeou a "chicken" and further insulted his father and family.

[23] Government ministers tried to help Hsieh by ominously comparing a unified Taiwan with Tibet, and pressuring China to speak with the Dalai Lama.

One local media commentator analyzed that their primary concern may be more economic than political, and quoted Bill Clinton's famous slogan, "It's the economy, stupid", as an explanation of the landslide victory for Ma.

[29] There was a sizeable number of Taiwanese who would prefer maintaining the status quo, a position favoured by Ma when he proclaimed that he would "not push for Taiwan independence or reunification with China if elected".

[32] After a press conference on March 23 where Ma stated that he will work to open up the Three Links and improve cross-strait relations, Taiwan's stock market saw a large rise.