Taiwan’s KMT opposition looking for a sense of purpose ahead of next year’s presidential vote

The Kuomintang has yet to overcome the problems – including internal divisions and a mainland-friendly policy platform – that cost it dearly last time around

It is struggling to appeal to younger voters, but may yet turn to an old familiar face for the election

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Published: 6:00am, 2 May 2023Updated: 6:19am, 3 May 2023

Taiwanese voters will head to the polls in January in what is seen as a crucial election for both the self-ruled island and US-China relations. In this, the second in a three-part series about the 2024 election race, the Post looks at the main opposition party, the Kuomintang.

“The KMT is in a mess – just like it was four years ago,” according to Lee Sheng-li, a long-term election organiser for Taiwan’s main opposition party.

In 2020 the Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu suffered a landslide defeat at the hands of incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen – a loss blamed on the party’s divided leadership and a mainland-friendly policy platform that has become increasingly unpalatable to Taiwanese voters, especially given events in Hong Kong since 2019.

Lee’s gloomy assessment of the party’s prospects of avoiding a third straight defeat worsened after Vice-President William Lai Ching-te, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s chairman, was chosen as the party’s candidate to succeed Tsai.

And the retired military school lecturer, who also advised the mainland province of Fujian on cross-strait exchanges during the last KMT presidency, has good reason to worry.

Not only does the independence-leaning DPP enjoy the benefits of incumbency, it can offer voters a much clearer political identity that appeals to younger voters and a candidate who enjoys relatively strong backing from the party’s power brokers.

Despite its impressive gains in the local elections last November, the KMT has remained mired in internal strife and continued to struggle with its mainland strategy – a dilemma heightened by increasing tension across the Taiwan Strait in recent years.

SCMP Series

Who will win Taiwan’s crucial 2024 election?

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