Taiwan ruling party trounced in local government poll

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on Saturday after a landslide victory for the rival party in local government elections.

Her strategy to frame local elections as showing defiance to China’s rising bellicosity failed, and main opposition Kuomintang, or KMT, romped to victory in the mayoral and county elections, winning 13 of the 21 seats up for grabs, including the wealthy and cosmopolitan capital Taipei. The DPP took five seats. The results are in line with expectations and similar to the last local elections in 2018.

None of those elected have direct say in policy on China. The elections for mayors, county chiefs and local councillors are about domestic issues such as Covid-19 and crime.

But Tsai had recast the election as being more than a local vote, saying the world was watching how Taiwan defended its democracy amid military tensions with China, which claims the island as its territory. “The results failed our expectations. We humbly accept the results and the Taiwanese people’s decision,” Tsai said at party headquarters as she quit as party head, which she also did after 2018’s poor results.

Both the DPP and KMT, which traditionally favours close ties with China though it strongly denies being pro-beijing, had concentrated their campaign efforts in wealthy and populous northern Taiwan, especially Taipei, whose mayor from the small Taiwan People’s Party could not run again due to term limits.

China views the island as its own territory and has been ramping up military activities to assert those claims, fuelling global concern especially given Taiwan’s major role as a semiconductor producer.

Focus will now turn to the 2024 presidential and parliament election, which Tsai and the DPP won by a landslide in 2020 on a pledge to stand up to China and defend Taiwan’s freedoms.