2020 elections saw shrinking support for parties that advocate the extremes of reunification and independence
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/17
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
An elderly KMT supporter was upset with Saturday’s election result. (CNA photo)\
Voters prefer Tsai to her party
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won a landslide victory. The DPP retains its majority in the Legislative Yuan, but its share of valid legislator-at-large votes dropped by 10 percentage points compared to the 2016 legislative elections, while Tsai's margin of victory was up one percentage point from four years ago.
As former U.S. national security advisor Steve Yates and others have pointed out, two external factors had a significant influence on this election: China and Hong Kong. The results reflected the sentiment that the majority of Taiwanese do not believe Communist China can peacefully coexist with a free society, and voters rejected China's "one country, two systems" framework by casting a vote for the presidential candidate who opposes it.
However, over 2.8 million voters who backed Tsai in the presidential election chose to support minority parties in the legislator-at-large elections.
Two young political parties, the left-of-center pan-green New Power Party (NPP) and the right-of-center pan-blue Taiwan People's Party (TPP), each secured over a million votes, nearly 2.6 million votes combined, partially thanks to the desire to counter one-party dominance in the country's highest legislative body. [FULL STORY]
