Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s pick for president, will become the island’s next leader after taking an insurmountable lead in Saturday’s election — a win that could set the stage for continued confrontation with China.
The achievement — described by Lai as a “victory for the community of democracies” — marks a historic third-straight win for the DPP and highlights not only the Taiwanese people’s approval of the independence-minded party’s tough stance on China, but also the rejection of the opposition’s plans to re-engage with Beijing amid worsening cross-strait relations.
Official results from the Central Electoral Commission showed that the 64-year-old Lai, long the front-runner in the election, had secured over 40% of the roughly 13.9 million votes cast in a poll that saw a turnout of 70.6%.