Taiwan elections: Tsai Ing-wen re-elected as president as rival Han Kuo-yu concedes defeat
- Tsai’s approach to mainland China was one of the key issues in the election and the comfortable victory will be seen as a mandate to continue her approach
- US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulates president on re-election
Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), captured more than 8 million votes, trumping her major challenger, Han Kuo-yu, from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang by close to 3 million votes.
Han, the populist mayor of Kaohsiung, conceded defeat and offered his congratulations to Tsai about an hour after James Soong Chu-yu from the People First Party made his concession speech. Soong garnered less than 600,000 votes, far short of 5.5 million votes received by Han.
Just after 9pm Tsai’s vote total had passed 8 million, more than the 6.9 million she received when victorious in 2016.
The DPP also secured a sweeping victory in the island’s legislative elections, winning 61 seats compared with the KMT’s 38. The result means the ruling party will maintain its majority in the Legislative Yuan.
Analysts said the result would give Tsai a mandate to continue her current cross-strait policy despite the KMT’s disagreements and strong opposition from the mainland.
