President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday secured a second four-year term in office, ending the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) hope for a return to power.
Ma won re-election with more than 6.8 million votes, leading his DPP challenger, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) — who garnered more than 6 million votes — by about 800,000 votes.
According to the figures released by the Central Election Commission (CEC) after the vote counting process was completed shortly before 10pm, Ma received 6,891,139 votes, or 51.6 percent of the total votes; Tsai won 6,093,578 votes, or 45.63 percent of the total; while the People First Party’s James Soong (宋楚瑜) took 369,588 votes, or 2.77 percent of the total votes cast.
Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura, AFP
The voter turnout was 74.38 percent, with 13,452,016 of the 18,086,455 qualified voters casting their votes, CEC figures showed.
Central Election Commission Chairwoman Chang Po-ya (張博雅) announced the numbers immediately after the vote-counting process was completed at a press conference at the Vote Counting and Information Center in Taipei.
“The figures will be finalized at a CEC meeting on Jan. 19,” Chang said. “After the commission confirms the numbers, we will publish the official results.”
Photo: Patrick Lin, AFP
Although Ma won, the total number of votes he received dropped by more than 767,000, from 7,658,724 in 2008, when he received 58.45 percent of the total vote.
On the other hand, votes for the DPP’s presidential candidate increased by 648,000 from 5,445,239 votes in 2008, a growth of 4.05 percent.
Speaking before thousands of jubilant supporters at his national campaign headquarters in Taipei, Ma said his cross-strait policies had resonated with voters.
GRAPHIC: TT
“They gave us support for our policy to put aside differences with the mainland [China], to search for peace and turn it into business opportunities,” he said.
“This is not Ma Ying-jeou’s personal victory, but one for the Taiwanese people. It’s also a victory for our direction toward a clean government, prosperity and peace,” he said.
“I want to thank everyone for your support that has given me the opportunity to achieve the changes Taiwan needs in another four years [in office]. I will never let you down,” he added.
Ma’s re-election is set to be seen in Beijing as a big victory for Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), who has moved away from China’s previous policy of repeatedly threatening Taiwan with war and instead has tried to woo Taiwanese by showing the economic benefits of closer ties.
There was no immediate reaction from Beijing on the election results.
Tsai conceded defeat at a press conference in New Taipei City (新北市) soon after Ma spoke to his supporters.
Tsai congratulated Ma on his victory and offered to resign immediately as DPP chairperson, saying that she took full responsibility for the loss.
“It was never easy to challenge an incumbent president. We didn’t do well enough in central and northern Taiwan. I am sorry that I have let our supporters down,” Tsai said.
“I know everyone is sad about the result. It’s OK to cry,” she added. “It is OK to feel depressed and disappointed, but don’t be frustrated and don’t give up. We still need to fight for Taiwan with optimism.”
Tsai urged Ma to listen to the people’s voice in his second term and despite his victory, she still thinks that a domestic consensus is essential before engaging in any further negotiations with Beijing.
She expressed her gratitude to her supporters, saying that their determination for reform should be carried on and that the DPP would be back in the future.
This was the second time Soong has run for president, following his initial bid in 2000, when he received 4,664,932 votes — 36.8 percent of the total votes at the time — and was the candidate with the second- highest number of votes.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source