SAEDNEWS: William Lai Ching-te from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has won Taiwan’s presidential election, despite China’s warnings not to vote for him. Lai, the current vice president, was in a three-way race with Hou Yu-ih from the conservative Kuomintang (KMT) and former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je from the Taiwan People’s Party which was only founded in 2019.
Lai took 40.2 percent of votes cast, partial results from the Central Elections Commission showed.
The results were counted from 98 percent of polling stations across the island, according to the commission tally, which also showed that Hou had trailed behind with 33.4 percent of the vote.
Hou conceded defeat on Saturday and congratulated Lai on his victory. He also apologised to KMT supporters for not being able to oust the DPP.
Ko also conceded defeat.
Taiwan’s elections carry an outsized importance because of the territory’s disputed political status. While de facto independent since the 1940s, China still claims the island and its outlying territories and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its ambitions.
In the run-up to the polls, China denounced Lai as a dangerous separatist, said he would be a threat to peace in the region if he won, and called the elections a choice between war and peace.
Lai has maintained that he is committed to peace and open to conditional engagement with Beijing, while also boosting the island’s defences (SOURCE: ALJAZEERA).
Ansarallah: US-UK Naval Fleet ‘Legitimate’ Target for Yemenis
