The polling stations have closed in Taiwan and the counting of votes for the presidential and parliamentary elections has begun. The elections took place in the shadow of tensions with China. The first results are expected in the evening.
The counting of votes in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan has begun after the polls closed. The polling stations on the Southeast Asian island closed on Saturday afternoon (local time), and the ballot papers will now be counted by hand. The first forecasts are expected early in the evening and the result later in the evening.
The outcome of the vote is likely to be crucial for the further development of the complicated relationship with China, which sees the democratically governed and industrially highly developed Taiwan as its own province.
The current president is no longer running
The previous incumbent Tsai Ing-wen from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has no longer run after two terms in office. Surveys so far suggest that the DPP, which is fielding the current vice president and party leader Lai Ching-te, has a good chance of winning the election.
Lai’s strongest rival is Hou Yu-ih, a former police chief who is running for the Kuomintang (KMT) party, which is known to be pro-China. He had described the election as a “decision between war and peace” against the backdrop of rising tensions between Taiwan and China.
Only outsider chances are given to Taipei’s long-time mayor, Ko wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party (TTP).
In addition to presidential and parliamentary elections
The 19.5 million eligible voters are also called upon to elect a new parliament. This includes 113 seats. The majority of MPs are elected directly, while the smaller number of seats are determined by votes for the party. A simple majority is sufficient for both the direct election of representatives and the president. The new president takes office on May 20th.
Taiwan has been self-governing since 1949. At that time, Mao Tsetung’s communists defeated the nationalist Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese civil war, who then withdrew to the island of Taiwan and ruled there authoritarianly for decades. Many states do not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan out of consideration for the People’s Republic of China.