Crowds packed the streets around the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei last night to celebrate its victory in the presidential election, giving Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and his party the mandate to lead Taiwan for the next four years.
DPP supporters cheered, shouted and waved flags as the vote tabulations were updated.
The ticket of Lai and former representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) led from the initial tallies in the afternoon right through the evening.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The festive atmosphere was also apparent in the crowd in front of Lai’s national campaign office near the Taipei MRT’s Shandao Temple Station, with people excitedly chatting and sending congratulatory messages as the results confirmed that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would hand over the nation’s leadership to a successor from her own party.
The final count in the presidential race had the Lai-Hsiao ticket at 5,586,019 votes, or 40.05 percent of the total, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) ticket of New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) at 4,671,021 (33.49 percent) and the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) ticket of party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Legislator Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) at 3,690,466 (26.46 percent).
However, the jubilant mood for the Lai-Hsiao victory was tempered by the DPP losing some key contests in the legislative elections, resulting in the DPP not getting a majority in the legislature, although it retained most of the seats in its traditionally strong constituencies, especially in southern Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
DPP representatives at the party’s main rally emphasized the slogans that Lai and Hsiao had campaigned on.
“It is a victory for democracy,” “Let’s proceed on the right path” and “Lai will drive on the road of democracy to lead our nation forward,” they said, referencing the “On the Road” campaign advert in which Tsai handed over car keys to Lai.
Lai’s victory is one of unity for Taiwanese, they said, adding that the win marked a historic achievement: the first time in Taiwanese democratic history that a political party has won a third straight presidential term.
Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP
The DPP is to remain in office after Tsai’s two consecutive terms beginning in 2016.
This would also be the first time that Taiwan has a former medical doctor as its leader, with Lai having a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University, as well as having practised medicine in Tainan, DPP officials said told the crowd.
A Taipei resident and DPP supporter surnamed Chuang (莊) in his 50s told reporters that Lai’s victory was a huge relief, as he had been anxious in the past few days upon seeing large crowds attending rallies for the KMT and the TPP.
“This is a win for Taiwanese,” Chuang said. “I am glad we still have democracy and freedom.”
“My family and I don’t want go back to the past authoritarian regime of the KMT,” he added. “The result is our message to the KMT and China that Taiwan is a sovereign country, and Taiwanese do not want to be ruled by communist China.”
At a DPP international news conference that started at 8:30pm last night, Lai said that his election had three important meanings:
First, Taiwan has told the world that in the choice between democracy and autocracy, Taiwanese have chosen democracy.
Second, Taiwanese have successfully defended their democratic system against external forces that have attempted to influence the elections, while sending a message to the world that they have the right to vote and to choose their own president.
Third, the DPP Lai-Hsiao ticket received the most support, with the most votes among the three political parties in the presidential race, he said.
Taiwanese have spoken, and they say that Taiwan is on the right road and will not go back to authoritarianism, he added.
Lai said that he will strive to maintain peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait, and would seek exchanges, interaction and dialogue with China, while he will uphold the Republic of China constitutional framework to work for the well-being of people on both sides of the Strait.
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