DPP's dismal economic record

TAIWAN'S economy has been expanding at 4 per cent to 6 per cent in recent years, lagging behind its Asian peers like Hong Kong and Singapore.

Job prospects are gloomy, incomes have stagnated while prices have gone up.

Corruption scandals

DPP officials, including President Chen Shui-bian and his family, have been embroiled in graft scandals.

This has severely eroded support for the DPP, which first swept to power in 2000 promising to eradicate corruption.

Frank Hsieh's negative campaign

The DPP's presidential candidate has run a negative campaign which played on Taiwanese fears about China.

Instead of wooing voters with concrete policies, he had focused on digging up dirt on his Kuomintang rival Ma Ying-jeou and his family.

KMT's strong economic platform

Mr Ma struck a chord when he addressed voters' concerns about bread-and-butter issues and offered a detailed proposal on how to revive the sluggish economy.

Personality factor

Mr Ma, arguably Taiwan's most popular politician, is seen as clean, honest and pragmatic.

Desire for leadership change

A maturing electorate which believes in the merits of leadership change.