Advertisement
Taiwan elections 2020
CommentUnited States
Sonny Lo
Sonny Lo

Opinion | Taiwanese voters have spoken: what do the elections mean for Tsai Ing-wen’s party, and China?

  • Sonny Lo says Taiwan’s ruling party has only itself to blame for voters’ revolt
  • However, the KMT’s strong showing does not make it a shoo-in for the presidential election, and Beijing should see the importance of respecting voters’ wishes

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Sonny Lo
The strong comeback of the opposition Kuomintang in Taiwan’s elections on Saturday has important implications not only for the island’s political development but also for cross-strait relations in the coming years. The governing Democratic Progressive Party suffered a serious setback, losing seven of the 13 city and county seats it had held since 2014, while the KMT captured 15 seats, up from only six four years ago.
Advertisement

Significantly, in the mayoral races, the KMT’s Han Kuo-yu convincingly defeated the DPP’s Chen Chi-mai in Kaohsiung, a traditional DPP stronghold that the party had held for 20 years, while two other KMT candidates, Hou You-yi and Lu Shiow-yen, captured New Taipei City and Taichung. In Taipei, although independent candidate Ko Wen-je declared victory, his KMT opponent Ting Shou-chung has filed for a recount. The DPP’s poor showing led to President Tsai Ing-wen’s resignation as party chairwoman, setting the stage for a DPP leadership struggle.

First and foremost, the DPP has only itself to blame for voters’ revolt. To the minds of many Kaohsiung residents, the deadly gas explosions of July 2014 and severe flooding of August 2018 were testimony to the DPP’s maladministration, and former mayor Chen Chu leaving the city to join the presidential secretariat was proof of DPP officials’ opportunism.
KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu, a self-proclaimed “vegetable vendor”, captured the DPP stronghold of Kaohsiung in the mayoral race on November 24. Photo: Reuters
KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu, a self-proclaimed “vegetable vendor”, captured the DPP stronghold of Kaohsiung in the mayoral race on November 24. Photo: Reuters

The victory of Han Kuo-yu, the straightforward, charismatic KMT candidate who dubbed himself a “bald-headed vegetable vendor”, was foreshadowed on the night of November 23, when a reported 150,000 residents turned up for his campaign rally. The DPP had been losing ground among farmers and workers, and the party’s elite was seen as being more interested in political power at the central level than in local governance and people’s livelihoods, a perception underlined by the KMT’s win in Kaohsiung.

Advertisement
Second, the uncharismatic Tsai’s resignation as DPP chairwoman has kicked off a contest for the leadership of the party. Premier William Lai appears to be a hot contender for the 2020 presidential election, while Tsai could grow increasingly unpopular and even be ousted. Regardless of who will lead the DPP in 2020, time is tight for the party, which must undergo drastic reforms to win back many Taiwanese, who have come to detest the DPP for being all slogans and no action.
Advertisement