The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won its third consecutive victory in Taiwan's presidential election on January 13, with its representative Lai Ching-te (also known as William Lai).
Lai is running as Taiwan's vice president, Tsai Ing-wen's deputy. Tsai has served two terms and cannot run for re-election.
With more than 80% of the votes counted in the "three-horse" race on January 13, Mr. Lai Thanh Duc and the DPP won more than 4,467,242 votes, equivalent to 40.89%.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hou Yu-ih - representative of the Kuomintang (KMT) Party, won 3,630,905 votes, equivalent to 33.24%.
Coming in third is Mr. Ko Wen-je - representative of the People's Party (TPP), with 2,826,022 votes, equivalent to 25.87%, according to the update at 7:30 p.m. local time on the Focus Taiwan website.
Hou Youyi admitted defeat and congratulated Lai on his victory. Hou also apologized to KMT supporters for failing to overthrow the DPP.
Turnout was more than 60 percent, with about 19.5 million people on the island eligible to vote. Voters also elected lawmakers to Taiwan's 113-seat legislature in an election closely watched by China and the United States.
Ahead of the island's election, at a regular press conference in Beijing on January 12, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning was asked how the election might affect relations between China and Taiwan.
“The elections in the Taiwan region are China's internal affairs. No matter what the result is, it will not change the basic fact that Taiwan is part of China and there is only one China in the world ,” Ms. Mao replied.
Ahead of the election, Lai, 64, said he is committed to maintaining peace and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and strengthening the island's defense capabilities if elected as the island's next leader .
Minh Duc (According to Reuters, Focus Taiwan, Al Jazeera, Nikkei Asia)
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