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Taiwan election 2024
ChinaPolitics

Can Taiwan’s KMT convert electoral success into the top legislative job?

  • The Kuomintang does not have a majority of lawmakers but is in the strongest position to take over the speaker’s role
  • The TPP could make all the difference but its demands are putting both the KMT and the ruling DPP offside

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In a meeting with the KMT’s newly elected legislators on Monday, party chairman Eric Chu Li-luan (standing) confirms legislator-elect Han Kuo-yu (second from right), as the party’s candidate for the legislative speaker role to be decided on February 1. Photo: CNA
Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang is aiming to build on its electoral success by securing the legislature’s top post in the widely watched race for speaker next month.

But it is not clear if the mainland-friendly KMT will have the support of its former ally to take over a position that has been controlled by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in the past eight years, according to observers.

While the KMT lost the race for the island’s presidency on January 13, it did capture 52 of the 113 legislative seats – one more than the DPP, which lost control of the legislature.
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The smaller opposition Taiwan People’s Party – a former KMT ally – won eight seats, giving it the balance of power. Two seats went to independents.

22:42

Opposition party in spotlight after Taiwan vote

Opposition party in spotlight after Taiwan vote

In a meeting with the KMT’s newly elected legislators on Monday, party chairman Eric Chu Li-luan confirmed that legislator-elect Han Kuo-yu, a former Kaohsiung mayor and ex-presidential candidate, would be the party’s candidate for the legislative speaker role – also known as the legislative presidency – to be decided on February 1.

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