One big election topic was the "1992 consensus", a term describing the declared outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of mainland China and Taiwan.

PFP chairman James Soong Chu-yu launched the party's first-ever presidential bid on 20 September 2011.

Soong stated, however, that his candidacy was contingent on the success of a nationwide signature drive, organized by Kao Tsu-min and Yang Fu-mei.

[12][13] He vowed to run and keep his candidacy active through the election if his campaign garnered one million signatures throughout Taiwan.

[14] Soong chose National Taiwan University professor emeritus Lin Ruey-shiung, a career scientist and academic with no political experience, to be his running mate.

Soong contended that the Taiwanese people desire a third choice outside the two main parties (KMT and DPP), despite concerns that his decision may split the Pan-Blue coalition vote to hand victory to the Pan-Green candidate as may have happened in the 2000 presidential election.

[15][16] After initially trailing, Ma started to pick up the lead, without Soong as a candidate, after September 2011 in most opinion polls.