The 1948 Chinese presidential election was held on April 20, 1948 at the National Assembly House in

Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. The election was conducted by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

to elect the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

of China. This is the first election under the newly adopted 1947 ''

Constitution of the Republic of China The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, ...

''. This indirect elections were held during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. Chiang Kai-shek, the incumbent leader of the Nationalist government, won a landslide victory against the same party candidate Ju Zheng in the presidential election. However,

Sun Fo Sun Fo or Sun Ke (; 21 October 1891 – 13 September 1973), courtesy name Zhesheng (), was a high-ranking official in the government of the Republic of China. He was the son of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China, and his fir ...

, Chiang's preferred Vice-Presidential candidate, was defeated by General

Li Zongren Li Zongren or Li Tsung-jen (; 13 August 1890 – 30 January 1969), courtesy name Telin (Te-lin; ), was a prominent Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang (KMT) military commander during the Northern Expedition, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese C ...

in the vice-presidential elections. Chiang and Li inaugurated at the Presidential Palace in

on May 20, 1948. This also marked the transition of Nationalist government to the

constitutional government A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

Overview

After the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

, the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

-led Nationalist government acquired control of a unified China nominally. The party began to draft a constitution to transit the government from tutelage period to constitutional period, according to the political philosophy of Sun Yat-sen. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, China established a close partnership with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and was given military and financial supports.

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the US Army under Pre ...

was appointed ambassador to Chongqing, the wartime capital, as to broker a negotiation between the

(Nationalist Party) and

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

after the war. Two parties agreed to rebuild the country with democratization and military nationalization. Simultaneously, the Nationalist government continued to draft the ''

'', however it was boycotted by the Communists and the full-scale

was resumed.

Electors

The election was conducted by the

in its meeting place National Assembly House in

. There were 2,961 delegates elected during the

1947 Chinese National Assembly election The 1947 Chinese National Assembly election was held between 21 and 23 November 1947 in China. This is the first election of under the newly ratified ''1947 Constitution of the Republic of China''. Under this constitution, the National Assembly ...

for the 3,045 seats. In total, there were 2,859 delegates reported to the secretariat to attend this first session of the first National Assembly.第一屆國民大會第一次會議實錄
/ref> The election regulations had a 50% requirement for the

and

to be elected. Since there were 3,045 seats in the

, the candidates needed to obtain 1,523 votes to be elected. This requirement could be relieved if no candidate passed this threshold in the first three rounds of voting.

Results

President

Vice-President

Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren and XGOA microphone 19480520

Vice President Candidates File:副總統候選人李宗仁.jpg,

File:副總統候選人孫科.jpg,

File:副總統候選人程潛.jpg,

Cheng Qian Cheng Qian (; 31 March 1882 – 5 April 1968) was a Chinese army officer and politician who held very important military and political positions in both the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China.Wolfgang Bartke, ''Who was Who in the ...

File:副總統候選人于右任.jpg,

Yu Youren Yu Youren (); (April 11, 1879 – November 10, 1964) was a Chinese educator, scholar, calligrapher, and politician. Early life He was born on April 11, 1879, in the town of Hedaogang (), Sanyuan County (north of Xi'an), Shaanxi Province, Qing Chi ...

File:副總統候選人莫德惠.jpg,

Mo Teh-hui Mo Teh-hui (; 1883 in Xinjiang Province, Qing Dynasty – April 17, 1968 in Taipei, Taiwan) was a nationalist Chinese politician. Biography Mo was born in 1883 in Xinjiang, to a Uyghur mother and Manchu father. He was born while his father was ...

File:副總統候選人徐傅霖.jpg, Xu Fulin

Previous and next elections

There were some

regime change Regime change is the partly forcible or coercive replacement of one government regime with another. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy. Regime change may ...

s in China during the first half of the 20th century. Depending on the definition, possible previous and next elections for the leader of China are listed below.

References

{{Republic of China presidential elections Presidential elections in the Republic of China (1912–1949) 1948 in China 1948 elections in Asia