In 1959, elections to the National Assembly, the body that elects the president, were held. To nobody’s surprise, the Kuomintang won the vast majority of seats, though they decreased their majority from 1953. Most of this was due to KMT officials leaving the party rather than KMT candidates being defeated. The members of the National Assembly who had been purged in 1958 were mostly replaced by pro-Chiang loyalists. In January 1960, elections for the Legislative Yuan were held. Once again, the Kuomintang was dominant. But membership in the Kuomintang did not always translate into loyalty to or support for Chiang Kai-shek. Many owed their loyalty to the local warlord who were responsible for their positions in government.
Former Vice President Li Zongren was a candidate for President. He had been gathering supporters ever since the last election. Everyone knew he was preparing for a rematch. He criticized Chiang Kai-shek for the 1958 purges and his failure to finish the land reform campaign by 1959. He said that Chiang Kai-shek should have abided by the 1948 Constitution and stick to two terms. Lei Chen, who ran for Vice President in 1954 and was accused during the purges but kept his seat in the Legislative Yuan, was also a candidate. His message was simple; China needed to be a more democratic country. Lei Chen’s base of support was much smaller, as most critics of Chiang saw Li Zongren as the only person who could realistically challenge Chiang. Li had the support of the New Guangxi Clique and therefore the assemblymen from Guangxi. He also had supporters scattered throughout the country.
Li Zongren received most of his support from his home Province of Guangxi and the Northeast. Most of Lei Chen’s support came from the Northeast as well. But both candidate’s numbers were dwarfed by those of Chiang Kai-shek. 821 delegates voted for Li Zongren and 65 voted for Lei Chen. 2,059 voted for Chiang Kai-shek, giving him a massive majority. Li knew that his campaign would be an uphill battle. He and his supporters were disappointed by the results, but they were not expecting victory. He did significantly better than he did in 1954. Vice President Sun Fo was a little bit more vulnerable than Chiang Kai-shek, however. Multiple candidates would challenge Sun Fo in the Vice-Presidential election.
The main challenger to Sun Fo was Beiping Mayor He Siyuan. Mayor He had been a longtime opponent of Chiang Kai-shek. He had the support of Li Zongren. There was also Li Zhonghuang, a member of the assembly, who was the candidate of Yunnan Warlord Lu Han. Yan Xishan and the Ma warlords, on the other hand, backed Sun Fo. Xu Fulin died in 1958, so the China Democratic Socialist Party chose Jian Yiqiao, member of the Legislative Yuan from Hubei and a former revolutionary, as their candidate for Vice President. The pro-democracy delegates who had left the Kuomintang and supported Lei Chen backed newspaper editor Liang Shuming for Vice President. In the end, Sun Fo easily won reelection on the first ballot.
(He Siyuan)
Presidential Election of 1960
| Votes |
Chiang Kai-shek (KMT-Zhejiang) | 2,059 (67.6%) |
Li Zongren (KMT-Guangxi) | 821 (27.0%) |
Lei Chen (I-Zhejiang) | 65 (2.1%) |
Vice Presidential Election of 1960
| Votes |
Sun Fo (KMT-Guangdong) | 1,906 (62.6%) |
He Siyuan (KMT-Hebei) | 690 (22.7%) |
Jian Yiqiao (CDSP-Hubei) | 245 (8.0%) |
Li Zhonghuang (KMT-Yunnan) | 132 (4.3%) |
Liang Shuming (I-Hebei) | 72 (2.4%) |