Taiwan Voters Nix China As William Lai Wins Prexy Race

Taiwan’s ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), secured a historic third term on Saturday as Vice President Lai Ching-te won the country’s widely watched presidential election with more than 40% of the vote, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Lai has been labeled a troublemaker by China, who warned people against voting for him, while Kuomintang (KMT) had promised better ties with Beijing and peace in the Taiwan Strait. I Photo: 賴清德Lai Ching-te X

Lai, along with his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim – Taiwan’s former representative to the United States – won a total of more than 5 million votes.

Taiwan’s electoral system is based on first-past-the-post voting, awarding the victory to the presidential-VP pairing with the highest percentage of votes. Turnout was put at more than 60% with some 19.5 million Taiwanese eligible to vote.

China’s Xi Jinping said: "I cannot lead Taiwan since he did not get more than 50% of the vote." Xi was never elected by the Chinese as it was the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that chose him, Mainichi Shimbun also reported.

Lai has been labeled a troublemaker by China, who warned people against voting for him, while Kuomintang (KMT) had promised better ties with Beijing and peace in the Taiwan Strait.

A third party, the Taiwan People's Party, was on the ballot - but its leader has also now conceded to the DPP. Taiwan is a democratic island that governs itself - but it is claimed by mainland China and has no international recognition as a country.

China has not governed Taiwan in the past 6,000 years. A total of 113 legislative seats were also contested during the election, AyesHea Perera reported for BBC News.

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