The 3.69 million votes garnered by Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in Jan. 13’s presidential election reflected the “distrust” felt by many young people toward the country’s two major parties, a Malaysian analyst said.
Tan Seng Keat (陳承傑), research manager at the Malaysia-based Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, said a key takeaway from the outcome of the presidential election was how many young voters supported Ko.
The election results showed that ballots cast by young Taiwanese voters had “flowed to” Ko, Tan said, adding that this signaled “the distrust felt by the young generation toward the two traditional big parties in Taiwan.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
On the other hand, the loss of youth support should raise the alarm for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), added Tan, who visited Taiwan for the presidential and legislative elections.
Ko received 3.69 million votes, 26.46 percent of the total, leaving him in third behind Vice President William Lai (賴清德) of the ruling DPP and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the KMT.
Lau Chin Kok (劉振國), a senior member of the Malaysian Chinese Association, a Malaysian political party, made a similar observation after obervering Taiwanese at the polls.
For young people, the TPP has become an alternative to the other two parties because of its “more flexible” campaigning approach, Lau said, adding that the DPP and the KMT had not come up with fresh strategies to appeal to young voters and had relied on traditional methods.
Their comments reflected pre-election polling, which suggested that Ko’s approval rating among voters aged from 20 to 40 was significantly higher than that of Lai and Hou.
Beyond that three candidates naturally diluted each other’s vote count, Tunghai University political scientist Shen Yu-chung (沈有忠) said that Ko won the support of many younger voters who supported Tsai in 2020.
Lai received 5.58 million votes in the presidential election, leaving him well short of the 8.17 million received by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) four years ago.
National University of Singapore political scientist Ian Chong (莊嘉穎) said that the support garnered by the TPP was a reflection of “dissatisfaction with domestic issues,” such as low wages and high house prices, and “has little to do with the People’s Republic of China.”
‘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