Taiwan's Presidential Election
Saturday saw Taiwan's presidential election with 3 main contenders Lai Ching-te of the center-left DPP, Hou Yu-ih of the center-right Kuomintang (the nationalists during the Chinese revolution), and Ko Wen-je of the newly formed (2019) center-left TPP. Lai Ching-te ended up winning by a reasonable margin. His party, the DPP, has held the presidency since 2016 and is seen as the more anti-China party out of the establishment.
Lai Ching-te has served as Vice President of Taiwan, Mayor of Tainan, and as Premier. His political knowledge is sufficient. During his early political career, he was declared the "Best Legislator" by the Citizen Congress Watch 4 times in a row.
Taiwan has always been under threat from the mainland Chinese communist party, who see the island's government as radical separatists. In recent years Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the communist party and president of China, has placed the island under increased pressure. With common incursions into Taiwanese airspace. This has revitalized the seriousness of the situation, with China increasingly showing its expansionist intent through both rhetoric and action, such as airspace violations.
The DPP or Democratic Progressive Party has long been the party for those that do not want reunification with the mainland or simply prefer the status quo. The opposition, Kuomintang, however, is seen as more China-friendly seeking closer ties with Beijing. Echoed by the similar talking points of the KMT and Chinese government about the risk of escalation with Lai Ching-te as president. Mr Ching-te has shown vocal support for Taiwanese independence, an important question on the island nation, explaining China's distaste for him as president.
The Taiwanese People's Party (TPP) has positioned itself as a fresh alternative to the DPP and KMT focusing less on the island's relations with China and more on domestic issues such as low wages. This approach alongside a savvy social media strategy has strongly resonated with younger voters, however, the party sees support in all age groups. The party does have an opinion on China, choosing to further the KMT message of hoping to avoid a war. The TPP showcases how the question of China to Taiwan is more than left- or right-wing, rather a much more delicate question with many different voices and supposed answers. The TPP like the DPP is center-left.
The previous president Tsai Ing-wen could not stand for re-election due to the constitutional term limit, incumbants are limited to serving 2 election cycles. Ms Ing-wen served as leader of the DPP until the start of summer in 2022 when she announced her resignation due to particularly bad local election results in the North of Taiwan. The KMT received more than 50% in the local elections of 2022 showcasing the comeback seen by the DPP in recent years. However, during the DPP presidency, the KMT has consistently outperformed in local elections. Perhaps the KMT candidates (for president and VP) were the issue, the leader of the KMT, Eric Chu, was not the KMT candidate, meaning the party did not use Mr Chu's name recognition. Mr Chu was the KMT presidential candidate once, he lost, explaining why he did not run, however, the importance of his position and said job recognition should mean the party tries to utilize it in presidential elections.
Furthermore, the TPP's ascent is noteworthy, winning just over 26% of the votes is no small feat. The DPP's 17% drop is due to this ascent, if the TPP continues to nominate candidates for president they may split the votes of the DPP allowing the KMT to gain the most votes. Though a third party managing to field a candidate every presidential election would be unprecedented.
