The current president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, won her country’s presidential elections and will start a second four-year term, according to the official results.
Tsai obtained more than eight million votes, which is equivalent to more than 57%, thus getting the highest support since the presidential elections in the country began in 1996. While Han Kuo-yu, the candidate of the main opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT), received five million devotees, that is, 38%, local newspaper Taiwan News reported.
In his victory speech, Tsai thanked her voters for choosing “the path of reform and unity.”
“The elections have shown the commitment of the Taiwanese people to democratic values and respect for their national identity,” the president added.
“Both sides have the responsibility to work for dialogue and should not deny the fact of the other’s existence.”
In mid-2019, Taiwan sealed a USD 8 billion defense agreement with the United States, which upset Beijing. Also, Taiwan has sheltered some protesters who claimed to be persecuted for demonstrations against the Hong Kong administration, backed by Beijing.
According to local media, KMT President Wu Den-yih announced his resignation shortly after the result was known and accepted responsibility for the defeat of his party in the presidential elections.
Detail about Election of Taiwan
On Saturday, a total of 17,226 polling stations opened their doors in Taiwan from 08:00 am to 04:00 pm where millions of people exercised their right to vote. Each voter cast three votes: one to elect the president, the second to his local legislator, and the third to choose his party.
In the 2016 elections, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 68 seats and defeated the then-dominant KMT party that secured 35 seats out of the 113 that make up the state legislature. Tsai thus became the first woman leader.
This was the first time that the KMT, which has a position in favor of China and had controlled the government for eight years, lost control of the island’s legislation.
The DPP has traditionally assumed a position in favor of independence and does not historically recognize the “One China” policy.
About party of Tsai
Tsai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won by a margin of about 20 percent, or more than 2.6 million votes, against its primary opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomingtang Party (KMT).
The election is widely seen as a referendum on whether Taiwan should seek closer ties with the Chinese regime, which states that Taiwan is part of its territory, despite being an autonomous island with its own democratically elected government, army and currency.
The election was also held against the backdrop of continued protests in favor of democracy in Hong Kong, marked by growing discontent over the regime’s pressure on the city. The protesters say the continuous pressure violates Beijing’s promise to defend the autonomy of the city under a framework known as “one country, two systems.”
