Lai Ching-te, the candidate for Taiwan’s presidential election presented by China as a ” serious danger », has, according to partial official results, won the election; Hou Yu-ih, the candidate in favor of a rapprochement with Beijing having conceded defeat.
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The candidate of the main opposition party in Taiwan, the Kuomintang (KMT), which is in favor of rapprochement with China, conceded defeat in the presidential election on Saturday January 13 evening. “ I respect the final decision of the Taiwanese people ” And ” I congratulate Lai Ching-te and Hsiao Bi-khim (his running mate, Editor’s note) for their election, hoping that they will not disappoint the expectations of the Taiwanese people », Declared Hou Yuh-ih to his supporters.
41.6% of the votes
At the start of the evening, outgoing vice-president Lai Ching-te, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was credited with 41.6% of the vote, according to these official results covering more than 60% of polling stations. His main opponent Hou Yu-ih, 66, a Kuomintang (KMT) candidate who advocates rapprochement with Beijing, obtained 33.2% of the votes, according to this count from the Central Electoral Commission. The third candidate, Ko Wen-je, 64, from the small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and who presents himself as anti-establishment, was placed third with 25.3%.
The Taiwanese also voted to renew the 113 seats in Parliament, where the DPP could lose its majority. In the approximately 18,000 polling stations, each ballot was held up high and read aloud by those responsible for counting – a process open to the public – before being counted. The offices closed at 4 p.m. (8 a.m. UT) in this territory of 23 million inhabitants located 180 kilometers from the Chinese coast and hailed as a model of democracy in Asia.
Explosive subject
Hou Yu-ih said he hoped that “ regardless of the turbulence that marked the electoral process, everyone will unite after the vote to face the future of Taiwan “. All week, Beijing has increased its diplomatic and military pressure. On Thursday, five Chinese balloons crossed the median line separating the autonomous island from China, according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, which also spotted ten planes and six warships. On Saturday, AFP journalists observed a Chinese fighter plane over the town of Pingtan, the closest to Taiwan. And on the Chinese social network Weibo, the hashtag “Taiwan Election” was blocked in the morning.
The status of Taiwan is one of the most explosive subjects in the rivalry between China and the United States, the territory’s primary military supporter, and Washington plans to send a “ informal delegation » on the island after the vote. A conflict in the Taiwan Strait could be disastrous for the global economy: the island supplies 70% of the planet’s semiconductors and more than 50% of the containers transported worldwide pass through the strait.
(With AFP)
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