Taiwan's Presidential election was held over the weekend. William Lai, of the pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been elected President. The party has governed Taiwan for the past eight years. This will be its third consecutive presidential term.
- Lai won 40% of the vote
- ahead of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party's Hou Yu-ih (the KMT is friendlier with the mainland CCP) on 33%
- the third candidate Ko Wen-je, from the Taiwan People's Party, scored just over a quarter of the vote
Voters also chose legislature candidates, Seats won:
- Kuomintang (KMT) won 52
- Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 51 seats, a net loss of 11 seats, dropping from 62
- Taiwan People's Party (TPP) won 8
- two independent legislators won seats, both of whom are ideologically most aligned with the KMT
Thus:
- The DPP has lost its majority
- The opposition KMT gained ground
- No one party has enough seats to control Parliament, this would require 57 seats
- Taiwan political pundits expect the most likely parliamentary outcome is for the KMT and TPP to hammer out a deal to govern
***
On the mainland, the Chinese Communist Party is not happy with the result, of course. The Communist Party despises democracy but couches its disapproval in nationalist, populist terms:
- says "Taiwan is part of China"
- calls for "peaceful reunification" but refuses to rule out using force
- characterised the democratic election in Taiwan as a choice between "war and peace"
Taiwan had accused China of attempting to interfere with the election process.
President Lai says he favours more exchanges and dialogue with mainland China:
- said he would "maintain the cross-strait status quo", he said he is not seeking independence nor unification with China
The US congratulated Lai on his win, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken also championing the island's "robust democratic system and electoral process".
In Europe, France said Taiwan is an important partner for Europe, and hopes links with it continue to strengthen. Called on respect for the status quo by all parties and hopes cross-strait dialogue returns.
