Taiwan’s first female president Tsai Ing-wen warns China after landslide victory
Tsai Ing-wen leads the DPP to a crushing victory, gaining control of the legislature for the first time and new authority to negotiate with Beijing
Taiwan’s main opposition Democratic Progressive Party yesterday scored a landslide victory, making its leader Dr Tsai Ing-wen the island’s first woman president and gaining control of the legislature for the first time.
The stunning victory – announced just three hours after vote counting had started – will give Tsai and her party sweeping authority to shape policies and negotiate with Beijing, which has long eyed the pro-independence DPP with suspicion.
Tsai won 6.89 million votes – 56 per cent of the total – almost twice as many as the 3.81 million (31 per cent) for Kuomintang candidate Eric Chu Li-luan. People’s First Party candidate Soong Chu-yu secured 1.57 million votes (13 per cent). The KMT won just 35 of the 113 legislature seats, far behind the 68 won by the DPP.
Watch: Tsai Ing-Wen vows to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty
Tsai hailed the result as a proof of how democracy had taken root in Taiwan. She pledged to reform and unite Taiwan to gain respect around the world.