First Peaceful Transfer of Power to an Opposition Party

Chen Shui-bian's election victory ended 55 years of unbroken Kuomintang rule over Taiwan (dating back to the KMT's retreat from mainland China in 1949) and marked the island's first peaceful transfer of presidential power to an opposition party — a threshold many young democracies never cross, since first-time opposition wins are historically when democratisation most often fails or reverses.