30-Second Summary: On November 26, 2022, a novice from Taifeng Township, Changhua City, who had recently graduated from university, received 732 votes, ranking second out of three. The book he submitted to the Control Yuan stated: income of 46,977 NTD, expenditure of 50,252 NTD, and self-contribution of 3,275 NTD. That year, there were 13,988 registered village head candidates nationwide, and only 309 people like him who opened a dedicated political donation account and meticulously reported every cent. A side-by-side comparison of these 309 books and the election results reveals something counterintuitive: among challengers without incumbent status, the quarter who spent the least and the quarter who spent the most had nearly identical success rates.
The Counting Sounds at the First Polling Station
On election night, he guarded the first polling station in the village. Staff members unfolded ballots one by one, calling out candidate names: "Candidate A, Candidate B."
This sound had a rhythm. He later reflected that if he knew roughly what percentage each ballot box yielded, and listened to the frequency of his name appearing in the count, he could get a general idea. This was the most objective signal.
Earlier signals appeared the night before. The Public Official Election and Recall Act stipulates that no public campaigning is allowed after 10 PM every evening during the campaign period, and all day on election day1. The few hours before 10 PM on the last night before the election were a time of final struggle for candidates; he said he could sense how people responded to you on the streets at that time.
The final numbers were: the winner received 1,339 votes, he received 732 votes, and another candidate recommended by a political party received 532 votes, with a voter turnout of 63.3%2.
A Book Where He Paid 3,275 NTD Himself
His reason for running was straightforward: he had a different vision for the locality; if it wasn't working, he wanted to try himself.
There were other layers of curiosity. He wanted to know what the role of a village head actually entailed. He had also heard a saying that China uses "United Front" work targeting temples and village heads at the grassroots level. He wanted to see this for himself. Later, research by Professor Gu Ming-jun's team from the Social Sciences Department at Tsinghua University, based on official Chinese reports, did list temples, agricultural cooperatives, and village heads as key targets3. He also wanted to start a community business, thinking that if being a village head was a profession, he could earn an income while doing what he liked.
The legal design and his imagination were not the same. Article 61 of the Local Government Act states that the village head is an unpaid position, with the public sector allocating "administrative subsidies"4, which amounted to 45,000 NTD per month in 2022, adjusted to 50,000 NTD in 20245. This money is used to cover administrative expenses for the village office and is not legally considered a salary.
He opened a dedicated account and received ten personal donations. The donors included cousins and brothers-in-law from other counties and cities, university and high school classmates, as well as two or three local residents. These local residents had previously challenged the incumbent village head and wanted to support this young man as a successor, regardless of the odds. Coupled with 6,000 NTD in anonymous donations, the total income was 46,977 NTD6.
Among the reported expenditures of 50,252 NTD, promotional expenses accounted for 49,252 NTD, and the remaining 1,000 NTD were for fuel6. The largest item on the books was a recording microphone and audio interface worth 17,000 NTD, followed by a backpack balloon costing 10,763 NTD, then banners, handheld wireless microphones, and profile photos. There was also an invoice for screen printing worth 2,820 NTD, which he used to print campaign T-shirts on a mesh base.
In 2022, village head candidates were required to pay a 50,000 NTD deposit, which would be forfeited if the votes did not meet the total number of voters1. The voter count in Taifeng Township was 4,195, so the threshold was approximately 420 votes. He received 732 votes, and his deposit was returned. In terms of accounting, he paid 3,275 NTD himself for this election.
13,988 Candidates, Only 309 Books
His books could be found because he opened a dedicated account.
Article 10 of the Political Donation Act stipulates that prospective candidates must first open a dedicated account in a financial institution and obtain permission from the Control Yuan before accepting political donations7. Conversely, if a candidate covers all expenses themselves without accepting money from anyone, they do not need to open an account, nor will there be books.
Out of 13,988 candidates across 7,731 villages nationwide in 20222, only 309 people left election books on the Control Yuan's public review platform for political donations, accounting for about 2.2%6. The spending and where it was spent by the remaining 97.8% are not visible in public records.
That year, there were also 3,058 villages with only one candidate registered, making up 40% of all villages2.
Among these 309 books, 10 came from the same civil society project. The social enterprise "Realization Society" launched the "Independent Village Head Academy" in October 2021, which wrote a complete manual for village heads and held 6 workshops nationwide, encouraging over 30 people to run and assisting 10 of them in raising political donations89. This young man from Taifeng Township was the representative from Changhua among these 10.
📝 Curator's Note: The public system for political donations is designed around "receiving money." It allows voters to see who a candidate owes favors to, but a candidate who funds everything themselves leaves no record in this system. As a result, those most willing to open their books are often the novices with the fewest resources who must ask friends and family for help.
Where Did the Money Go?
By reclassifying the expenditures from the 309 books according to usage10, the total amounted to approximately 28.46 million NTD, with the top four categories being: catering/hosting (20.5%), promotional printing (16.5%), office and venue rental (15.9%), banners and flags (15.0%). Gifts accounted for 11.8%, and personnel costs for 5.7%.
Digital expenditures, such as videos, Facebook ads, and profile photos, only made up 1.2%, with only 21 of the 309 people spending this amount.
The figures varied greatly from person to person. The median fundraising amount was 45,314 NTD, and the median expenditure was 54,500 NTD. In the 309 cases, 237 people (77%) spent more than they raised, having to cover the difference themselves6. On average, the median cost per vote received was 62 NTD.
At the village head level, an election campaign's expenses still boil down to meals and flags.
Spending More or Less, All Result in a 30% Win Rate
The most interesting part of this data appears when matching the books with the election results2.
First, looking at the overall picture: the median expenditure of winners was 82,765 NTD, while that of losers was 45,787 NTD. At first glance, it seems like spending more leads to winning.
However, when breaking down incumbents and challengers, the picture changes. In 2018, there were already 73 village heads; in 2022, 61 people successfully re-elected with a win rate of 84%, and a median expenditure of 106,842 NTD. The 229 challengers without incumbent status had only a 27% success rate.
Next, these 229 challengers were divided into four quartiles based on spending:
| Spending Range (NTD) | Winners / Count | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1,233 – 32,000 | 13 / 46 | 28% |
| 32,349 – 63,000 | 14 / 47 | 30% |
| 64,444 – 122,665 | 13 / 47 | 28% |
| 123,600 – 869,890 | 14 / 47 | 30% |
People who spent over ten thousand NTD and those who spent nearly 870,000 NTD were placed in the same table, with a win rate falling into the same range. The impression that "winners spend more" in the overall data mainly comes from incumbents: they are inherently better at winning and are also more willing to spend.
Of the 21 candidates who had digital expenditures, 11 won. This sample is too small and mixes incumbents and challengers, so this number does not prove causation.
📝 Curator's Note: The phrase "elections are about money" needs a different question mark at the village head level. Money is more like a thermometer; it can measure how long a candidate has operated in the village or how many people are willing to fund them, but it cannot directly turn a challenger into a village head. In village elections held every four years with nearly equal competition, what is truly scarce is time.
The 97.8% We Cannot See
This analysis has one unavoidable limitation: the 309 people were the minority who chose to open accounts.
Those willing to open accounts might be more concerned about transparency from the start, or they might have received planned assistance, or they might genuinely need to raise money from others. The 13,679 candidates without books might have spent even more, or perhaps less. Therefore, the conclusion above can only be said to hold "among those who left records," and cannot be extrapolated to all candidates.
Another limitation lies in the law itself. The Political Donation Act places borrowing money from oneself or family members in a relatively vague position; the Transparency of Political Donations article on Taiwan.md has already compiled this loophole. The "self-contribution" on the books may not reflect the full cost of an election.
The system is also changing. In July 2026, the Central Election Commission reduced the deposit for township and village head candidates from 50,000 NTD to 30,000 NTD11. For a candidate with a median expenditure exceeding 50,000 NTD, this reduced the initial barrier to entry by 20,000 NTD.
The Next Batch of Books in 2026
Of the 10 candidates from the Independent Village Head Academy back then, 4 won, one of whom was an incumbent village head and one of the academy's founders. According to the Central Election Commission's registration summary for September 2026, 3 of these 10 re-registered, two of them being winners from 202212.
The young man from Taifeng Township was not on that list.
Prospective village head candidates in 2026 can begin accepting political donations starting August 20th13. According to law, candidates must report within three months after the election day, and the Control Yuan must make it public within six months of the deadline7. After the November 28th vote, the next batch of village head books will appear on the platform no later than the end of August 2027. At that time, we can calculate again: is the win rate still the same for those who spent 30,000 and those who spent 120,000?
Further Reading
- Village Head System — How do the most grassroots political units in Taiwan operate among 7,748 elected leaders
- Transparency of Political Donations — The design of the reporting system and the loophole of "borrowing from oneself"
- 2026 Nine-in-One Election — The next batch of books will come from this election
References
- Public Official Election and Recall Act — National Legal Database, Article 32 (Deposit and Refund Threshold), Article 56 (Daily Campaign Activity Time Limit).↩2
- Central Election Commission Election Database — Voting results from each village in the 2022 Village Head Election. The number of candidates, the number of villages with equal competition, and challenger win rates were aggregated by the author based on voting results and compared with the 309 books (302 successful comparisons).↩234
- Tsinghua Scholar Gu Ming-jun Unveils CCP's All-Encompassing United Front Work: Covering Temples, Vendors, Agricultural Cooperatives, Village Heads, Schools, Media, and Tribes — Wo Cao, Zhu Naiying, January 22, 2024.↩
- Local Government Act — National Legal Database, Article 61: The village head is an unpaid position.↩
- Regulations for Allocating Fees to Local Representatives and Subsidizing Village Head Affairs — National Legal Database, Article 7, currently set at 50,000 NTD per month (amended in June 2024).↩
- Control Yuan Public Review Platform for Political Donations — Financial report for the 111 Village (Township) Head Election. This article statistically compiled the latest corrected versions of the 309 initial submissions downloaded via the platform API, excluding residual submissions.↩234
- Political Donation Act — National Legal Database, Article 10 (Dedicated Account), Article 12 (Acceptance Period), Article 21 (Reporting and Disclosure).↩2
- Is the "Generation 318 Student Movement Grassroots Campaign" Fading? The Predicament and Breakthrough of Young Village Heads — Reporter Kong De-lian, September 5, 2022.↩
- 【First Time Running for Village Head】One-Day Workshop — Realization Society / Independent Village Head Academy.↩
- Classification Method: Details were categorized into eight types—catering, promotion, banners, gifts, venue, personnel, digital media, and other—based on the "Expenditure Purpose" and "Expenditure Target" columns of the accounting report. Digital categories only included items listed as videos, ads, or photography in the purpose column, or where the expenditure target was Meta, Google, or a digital marketing company. This classification is proprietary to the author and differs from the statutory subjects in Article 20 of the Political Donation Act.↩
- Central Election Commission Reduces Minimum Deposit for Township and Village Head Candidates to 30,000 — Central News Agency, July 22, 2026.↩
- Central Election Commission Registration Summary for Local Officials in 2026 — Village Head registration roster, compiled on September 7, 2026, with a total of 14,039 entries.↩
- Local Elections in 2026 Are Coming! Ministry of the Interior Reveals "Four Tips" for Political Donations — Ministry of the Interior, Reminder on the period and reporting of political donations for prospective candidates in local elections in 2026.↩