Manchurian premierial election, 1996

The Manchurian premierial election, 1995 was held on the 3rd February 1995. The third direct premierial election and second to be held since democratisation, the election was also one of the most tightly fought in Manchurian history. The main two candidates going into the election were incumbent Premier Du Changhao of the Manchu Revolutionary National Congress and the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Manchuria former premier and communist party boss Tao Shiyou.

The election was set to the backdrop of continuing economic decline and rapidly rising inequality as a result of the ongoing programme of the Du government, particularly the. There was also concerns with growing corruption and authoritarianism exercised by the government in order to push through economic reform. As such support for Du which had been extremely high at the start of his term had dramatically decreased. In contrast, opposition leader Tao Shiyou (who had been the leader of Manchuria between 1980 to 1986) had a strong lead in opinion polls, and was widely tipped by the media to be the next premier of Manchuria.

The campaign was infamous for the personal attacks made against each candidate during the election in order to drum up support. Du was criticised for overseeing steady economic and social breakdown whilst Tao was demonised as a throwback to and  rule. During the election itself there were electoral irregularities and accusations of fraud. The final result saw Du win by 71,319 votes over Tao in a margin of 0.2%. Tao refused to concede defeat until a recount was commissioned that confirmed Du's victory - despite this Tao and the SPM contended that the vote was rigged. The election remains controversial with Du's supporters claiming it was democratic and his detractors arguing otherwise. Du went on to serve his second five year term as Premier.