Reading the recent articles about Lee Teng-hui a lot of the focus is understandably on 1996, Taiwan's first democratic presidential election. But to me a more significant milestone is 1992 – the first democratic election of the Legislative Yuan. 1/14
First let's step back another two years, to 1990. Back then there were two legislative bodies: the Legislative Yuan (立法院, LY) and the National Assembly (國民大會, NA). Both were highly undemocratic. 2/14
Both claimed to represent the whole of China, a farcical state of affairs given the KMT defeat in the Chinese civil war in 1949. As a result even into the early 1990s the LY and NA had a majority of members from China, not Taiwan. 3/14
Those legislators elected in 1947/48 in China were frozen in place, as new elections could not be held there. Critics called the NA the "Ten Thousand Year Assembly" (萬年國會) as geriatric members held their seats for forty years. 4/14
(Picture from the 中時報 archives.) 5/14 
Aged legislators who died were replaced by the runners-up from the 1947/48 elections. Over the years new seats were added for the "free area" (i.e. Taiwan) but still nowhere near a majority. 6/14
Now, one of the responsibilities of the NA was to elect the president and vice-president. in 1990 Lee was elected by this body, with Lien Chan as his vice-president. 7/14
(As a tangent, many think the selection of the divisive and uncharismatic Lien was part of Lee's long game). 8/14
This "election" by 600-odd ancient legislators-for-life kicked off the Wild Lily protests. Instead of opting for the brutal repression of Tiananmen Square (just the previous year), Lee listened and engaged. 9/14
(Photo of 1990 Wild Lily protests by Chris Nelson.) 10/14
He invited the student protest leaders on to a commission with a mandate to enact real change. The first tangible result, the first moment when democracy became entrenched in Taiwanese life, was the 1992 Legislative Yuan election. 11/14
The old legislators were pensioned off and 161 new seats were created, 155 of whom were elected by the people of Taiwan (the remaining six were reserved for "overseas Chinese" voters). The National Assembly was also democratised, then eventually phased out. 12/14
The 1996 direct presidential election so often mentioned is a wonderful milestone, but it was really the culmination of the hard work put into democratisation in the years before. 13/14
1996 is a direct consequence of 1992, and it's 1992 that deserves to be remembered as the year democracy became real in Taiwan. 14/14
