Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday secured a landslide election victory, unseating the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) by taking 56.12 percent of the vote to become the nation’s first female president.
The DPP swept back into power after eight years in opposition, in the nation’s third transfer of power.
The DPP ticket won almost 6.9 million votes, while KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) garnered 3.8 million votes, or 31 percent, and People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) received 1.5 million votes, or 12.8 percent.
Photo: CNA
Tsai’s performance was the second-best for a presidential candidate since direct presidential elections began in 1996, falling just short of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 2008 record of 58.44 percent of the vote.
It also represented a sharp jump from Tsai’s performance in the 2012 election, which saw her win 45.63 percent of the vote.
Tsai won in all counties and municipalities except Hualien, Taitung, Lienchiang and Kinmen counties, smashing through the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪) barrier between Yunlin and Changhua counties, which has traditionally demarcated the northern boundary of the DPP’s core support, in a clean sweep of the nation’s northern cities and counties.
Graphic: Tania Chou, Taipei Times
Chu even lost in New Taipei City, where he serves as mayor.
At Tsai’s national campaign headquarters in Taipei, supporters looking at a large outdoor screen burst into cheers whenever Tsai tallied a further 100,000 votes. As the day progressed, her votes surpassed 1 million, then 2 million and 3 million, with the cheering and flag-waving continuing nonstop as the tally exceeded 6 million.
“We are Taiwanese. We are Taiwanese. We are Taiwanese,” the crowd chanted, in response to both Ma’s China-leaning policies and a Chinese boycott of South Korea-based Taiwanese singer Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), who was forced to apologize for carrying a Republic of China (ROC) flag and to say that she is Chinese, in a video uploaded to YouTube on Friday night.
Graphic: Lance Liu, Taipei Times
“With our votes, we proved that we are a sovereign and independent nation,” DPP legislator-at-large-elect Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), who was one of the hosts of last night’s rally, told the crowd. “This is our nation.”
At an international news conference at 8:30pm yesterday, Tsai spoke of her respect for Taiwanese, thanked her rivals and promised cross-party collaboration.
“Today, Taiwanese wrote history with their ballots and signaled the third transition of power since direct presidential suffrage was put in place, as well as the first transition of power in the legislature,” Tsai said. “I would like to show my deepest respect to those who went to the polls.”
Photo: EPA
As for her rivals, Chu and Soong, Tsai expressed her gratitude that they upheld democratic values so that the election could be completed.
She said that she would take their criticism as a reference for policymaking and would work with other parties to make the nation a better place.
Tsai said that in the four months leading up to her inauguration on May 20, she would work with the current government to complete the transition of power, with the goal of maintaining political stability.
Photo: AP
Chu conceded defeat in the presidential election at about 7pm, apologizing to supporters for failing to live up to their expectations and fulfilling the KMT’s obligation to safeguard the ROC.
“I’m sorry,” Chu told a gathering of somber-looking supporters, some in tears.
“As both the chairman and presidential candidate of the KMT, I cannot shirk my responsibility and must shoulder all the blame. Dear friends, I have failed you. I will immediately resign from my post as KMT chairman,” Chu said.
Photo: Damir Sagolj, Reuters
His supporters quickly replied: “We will not allow you [to resign]. The [ROC] flag must not fall.”
Chu said he respects the electorate’s decision and expressed his hope that Tsai and the DPP would endeavor to steer the nation toward a brighter and happier future, which prompted supporters to shout: “Impossible.”
Many supporters shed tears as Chu spoke, with some even leaving in the middle of his speech, saying “it is too sad to listen to this.”
However, some of the KMT’s elderly supporters asked Chu to stop talking, saying: “How dare you keep talking after losing?”
Chu concluded his speech by pledging to reflect on his and the KMT’s defeats and said the KMT would be a responsible opposition party over the next four years.
At the PFP’s headquarters, some supporters began applauding after Soong (宋楚瑜) and his running mate, Republican Party Chairperson Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), garnered 1 million votes.
Soong conceded defeat and said he hoped Tsai would keep her campaign promises.
Soong also said that peace is what people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and around the world want, and the ball is now in the DPP’s court.
“It is the people in Taiwan and China who should be handling cross-strait affairs, not any outsider. The president is the key person in determining the direction of cross-strait affairs,” he said, adding that people on both sides of the Strait hope that cross-strait issues can be handled in a rational manner.
A long-time Soong supporter surnamed Lin (林) said she had hoped that Soong would secure as many votes as Tsai.
Lin said Tsai would have to respond to changes in the world much faster than before and quickly unite Taiwanese after the election.
Meanwhile, Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) late yesterday said he has tendered his resignation to Ma and would not accept any attempt to have him remain in his post.
The premier’s resignation is pro forma in Taiwan for a ruling party when it loses a major election.
This story has been corrected since it was first published to show that Tsai’s final percentage of the vote was less than President Ma Ying-jeou’s in his first win in 2008.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying