Voter turnout for Saturday’s presidential election was the lowest of the six direct presidential elections since 1996, data compiled by the Central Election Commission showed.
Voter turnout in the election was 66.27 percent, compared with 76.04 percent in 1996, 82.7 percent in 2000, 80.28 percent in 2004, 76.33 percent in 2008 and 74.38 percent in 2012, the commission said.
The figures were released alongside the commission’s announcement late on Saturday that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had won the election.
Photo: CNA
Tsai and her running mate, Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), received 6.89 million votes, or 56.12 percent of total valid votes, commission Chairman Liu Yi-chou (劉義周) said.
Tsai defeated Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫), who garnered 31.04 percent of the total vote, and People First Party (PFP) candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), who received 12.84 percent of the vote.
In the legislative race, the DPP won 68 seats out of 113, up from 40 in the previous election four years ago, to give it an absolute majority in the legislature for the first time.
The KMT won 35 seats, sharply down from 64 in the previous election, the commission said.
The New Power Party (NPP) won five seats to become the third-largest party in the Legislative Yuan, followed by the PFP with three seats, the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union with one seat and an independent with the final seat.
The commission said voter turnout in single-member legislative constituency races was 66.58 percent, and 66.25 percent for the political party vote that determined the distribution of legislators-at-large.
Turnout was 57.66 percent for the vote for Aboriginal representatives in mountainous areas and 51.72 percent for the vote for Aboriginal representatives in low-lying areas.
Meanwhile, the commission said that five political parties that have each garnered more than 3.5 percent of the total number of votes cast in legislative elections are eligible to collect NT$50 per vote annually over the next four years, in accordance with the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
The New Party, which garnered 4.18 percent of the vote, would also receive subsidies, although it will not hold any legislator-at-large seats.
A record 18 political parties competed in the legislative election and four of them — the DPP, KMT, PFP and NPP — received more than 5 percent of the total votes, making them eligible to be allocated legislator-at-large seats and to receive the election subsidy, commission statistics showed.
It is calculated that the DPP would receive NT$268.54 million (US$7.94 million) each year, given that it garnered more than 5.37 million votes in the legislative election, while the KMT can claim NT$164.04 million and the PFP NT$39.74 million.
The NPP would be eligible to receive NT$37.21 million per year and the New Party NT$25.5 million.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS