8pm: The KMT’s presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and the TPP's Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) officially conceded defeat.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
8pm: As for the party vote, only the DPP, KMT and TPP have passed the 5% threshold to appoint legislators-at-large. The DPP is ahead with 36.54%, with the KMT close behind with 34.46% and the TPP at 21.84%. At only 2.54%, the NPP looks like it will lose its three current seats.
7:50pm: Taitung County is to flip to the KMT for the first time since 2010 after a split green vote. Incumbent Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) decided to run as an independent after losing the DPP primary to former legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成).
7:45pm: The KMT has nabbed another seat in Taipei, with City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) set to represent the seventh constituency (Xinyi and southern Songshan). Hsu has been a rising star in the KMT, vocal in her criticism of the government’s handling of an egg shortage last year and other hot-button issues.
Photo: CNA
7:40pm: With 87% of polling locations reporting now, Lai is still comfortably in the lead with 40.73% of the vote. Hou has 33.27% and Ko has 26.01%, according to the official CEC tally.
7:30pm: In another blow to the DPP, Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) was unable to unseat the KMT’s Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) in Taipei’s third constituency (Zhongshan/northern Songshan), who took over the seat vacated by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安).
7:10pm: Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) of the KMT has upset the DPP’s Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜), who was looking to retain her seat representing Taipei’s fourth district including Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts. Kao is known for her advocacy for victims of domestic abuse after she herself successfully brought charges against an ex-boyfriend.
7:05pm: Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) is to enter the national legislature after declaring victory in Kaohsiung’s sixth district. A former New Power Party member who joined the DPP last year, Huang was nominated after the DPP dropped Legislator Chao Tian-lin (趙天麟) for having an affair with a Chinese woman.
7pm: In an unsurprising result, the DPP looks set to sweep all six districts in the traditional green stronghold of Tainan.
6:50pm: Incumbent KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) declared victory in Nantou County’s first district. Ma has come under fire in recent months for allegedly passing classified materials on Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program to South Korea and attempting to obstruct defense projects.
6:40pm: In Taichung, the KMT looks likely to flip four seats from the DPP, raising their tally from only two out of the city’s eight districts to six.
6:20pm: Voter turnout for the presidential election has hovered around 69% so far. That’s less than the 75% seen in 2020, but would beat the 66% from 2016 if the number holds.
6:10pm: Former KMT legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恆) declared victory in the race to regain his seat representing Taichung’s second district from Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) of the DPP. He was unseated in 2020 by the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟), who was recalled in 2021 and replaced by Lin.
6pm: Two hours after polling closed, and the official CEC count has Lai comfortably ahead at 43.27%, Hou second with 34.01% and Ko trailing at 22.72%, with 1,841 polling places out of 17,795 (10%) reporting.
5:40pm: The National Police Agency reported 92 legal violations at the polls, 49 of which involved taking photos of a ballot or bringing a phone or recording equipment into the voting booth, and 13 were for campaigning.
5pm: Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) of the DPP was the first to declare victory in his bid for re-election in Tainan’s fifth district over an opponent from the small MiLinguall Party, despite no votes having been counted.
4:50pm: Results have begun to trickle in, with most tallies putting the DPP’s William Lai slightly ahead of the KMT’s Hou You-yi. But with only 50 minutes since the polls closed, it’s still too early to say.
4pm: Polls close
Overview below:
Millions of Taiwanese went to the polls on Saturday to choose a new president and legislators, with results expected later tonight.
Polls were open from 8am to 4pm. Votes are to be counted at polling stations in a process open to public observation.
A total of 19,548,531 people are eligible to cast their ballots for president, with an additional 17,476 eligible to do so for legislators-at-large, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Up for grabs are the presidential office and 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan, including 73 directly elected district lawmakers, six seats of indigenous representatives and 34 legislators-at-large granted to political parties that receive no less than 5 percent of a separate party vote.
The presidential race is between three main parties: Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and running mate Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) of the newer Taiwan People's Party (TPP), William Lai (賴清德) and running mate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) of the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and running mate Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) of the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
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